


I'm Falling, but Who Will Catch Me?

by mb_stortroen1832



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Crimes & Criminals, Crying, Detectives, Developing Relationship, Enjolras/Grantaire-centric, Explicit Sexual Content, Friendship, Heartbreak, Hospitalization, Hostage Situations, Investigations, Love Confessions, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, Murder, Mutual Pining, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Romance, Surgery, Therapy, Vulnerability, Weddings, gun shot wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-10-26 14:49:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17747921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mb_stortroen1832/pseuds/mb_stortroen1832
Summary: Enjolras and Grantaire have been friends since they started college, through their time in the NYPD police academy, and working up the ranks to detective. They work great together, despite having complete opposite ways of thinking. For years, they've had feelings for each other, but because of the walls that Enjolras has built around his heart, Grantaire is only one who has ever said anything.Only for everything to come crashing down, when Enjolras is shot in self-defense and he learns that his doctor, Alexander "Alex" Keller, is Grantaire's boyfriend from 13 years ago.As he stands there, watching Grantaire and his ex-boyfriend grow close again, Enjolras is forced to tear the walls down that keep him out before his biggest fear of losing Grantaire comes true.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are elements of the television shows, "Castle" and "Beauty and the Beast (2012)" in this story. But I'd say that about 85% or more is from my own imagination.
> 
> The first two chapters of this story are sort of a prologue/give a lot of background information that is necessary to know.
> 
> This is only looked at me. All spelling/grammar mistakes are my own.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own "Les Misérables", or its characters. I don't own the situations that are taken from "Castle" or "Beauty and the Beast (2012)" either

 

* * *

_June 2005_

Enjolras was finishing up his closing shift at a bar in Chelsea. He was working at the bar for he needed the money for college. His parents were going to pay the tuition for New York University, while he paid for the books. So far, he had enough for books for only one class.

He finished locking up the bar before carrying the trash to the dumpster. After throwing the trash away, Enjolras made his way to his car only to discover that his battery was dead. He sighed before grabbing his phone to call his older brother, Mathieu, who was back home for the summer after his third year at Princeton. Their parents weren't home. They had gone to visit their mother's parents in Connecticut.

Mathieu agreed to come and help him, but his brother always came running when Enjolras needed him. He always had. He and Mathieu were two peas in a pod. Mathieu was extremely protective of Enjolras, had been since he had been in their mother's womb. As they grew up, Mathieu was Enjolras' closest friend and confidant.

Mathieu pulled up next to Enjolras' car. Enjolras was sitting in his car because despite it being June, the air still had a chill in it.

Enjolras got out of the car. Mathieu just stood there, looking at him with an affectionate look in his eyes. "You're lucky that I was awake. I was just about to head to bed when the call came in."

"You would have come no matter what." Enjolras replied.

"How can you be so sure?" Mathieu asked.

"You always come running when I need you." Enjolras said.

Mathieu rolled his eyes with a smile. He grabbed his jumper cables from the trunk of his car. They hooked both of the cars up. Enjolras was just about to get in his car to turn on the ignition when another car pulled up next to them.

Enjolras looked at them, trying to tell the people in the car that the bar was closed. Then, two men, or what Enjolras assumed were men, got out of the car. He couldn't see their faces, only their shadows because of the lights from the headlights.

But Mathieu clearly recognized them because he looked over at Enjolras. "Jules, get in my car."

"What?"

"Just get in my car and don't get out whatever you do." Mathieu told him.

Enjolras did as his brother asked, but just as he was closing the door, the two men pulled guns on Mathieu and shot him. Enjolras screamed in horror as his brother hit the ground. The two men looked at him, but before they could do anything, the sirens could be heard. They got back in their car and drove away.

Enjolras got out of the car and knelt down next to his brother. Tears streaming down his cheeks as he reached down to his brother's neck to search for a pulse, but he couldn't find one. He was still crying and sitting next to the body when the police showed up with the ambulance. They pulled Enjolras away from his brother to bring him to an ambulance to be checked on before they took his statement.

The Captain of the police, Raglan, believed Enjolras' story because he knew how close the brothers were, plus his story checked out since they had checked his car, looked at his phone, and then the obvious fresh tire tracks telling them that another car had been there, but was gone. Enjolras had ended up calling Valjean, a friend of the families to come and pick him up, who then in turn called Enjolras' parents to tell them what happened. He stayed with Enjolras and Enjolras’ adoptive sister, Cosette, until their parents got home.

Enjolras had stopped crying because of the shock and only had a blank stare, but as soon as he was in Isabelle's, his mother, arms, the sobs erupted in him. As his mother tried to comfort him, the only thing that Enjolras could say was that it was his fault.

***

For weeks, following Mathieu's death and funeral, Enjolras was wracked with guilt. If he had just not called Mathieu, his brother would still be alive. He didn't want to talk about what he had witnessed causing his parents to hire a therapist, so that he would have to talk about it, but he still didn’t say anything about it then. His parents hired therapist after therapist to help their son. One therapist was able to diagnose him with PTSD, but despite that, Enjolras still refused to talk about it.

Weeks continued to pass, and soon it would be time for Enjolras and his two best friends, Combeferre and Courfeyrac, to start college. Enjolras had changed his major from lawyer to law enforcement, same as Courfeyrac. Combeferre was going to major in forensic science to become a medical examiner.

Enjolras chose the career to hopefully get his hands on his brother's case file.  and his detectives had worked the case until the trail had gone cold, and then they tied it up in a little box with a bow by writing if off as random gang violence. But Enjolras knew that there was more to it than that, and he wanted – no, he needed to find out what it was.

Two months into their freshmen year of college, Courfeyrac had decided to throw a rooftop party, and wouldn't take Enjolras saying no for an answer. Enjolras went to the party, but all he wanted was to go home and study. He didn't party. It just wasn't his style. Not to mention that he wasn't interested in being hit on because a relationship was the last thing he needed right now. Now, that's not to say that he didn't want a relationship eventually, but he was terrified that the person that he loved would be taken away from him just like his brother had been.

But despite all that, Enjolras still found himself at the party, a fruity drink in his hand. He was standing off to the side of the roof when he noticed a dark curly haired man start to walk toward him

The dark haired man walked up to him and introduced himself. "I'm Grantaire."

Enjolras turned to look at the man. "I'm Enjolras. Can I help you?"

"No. You just seemed bored over here by yourself." Grantaire told him.

"I'm fine." Enjolras told him.

"Somehow I don't believe you." Grantaire said.

Enjolras looked at the man with disbelief in his eyes. "Look, I was over here because I didn't want to be bothered by anyone." He tried to walk away, but Grantaire stopped him.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I just…you seem sad, and I guess, I wanted to try and cheer you up a bit." Grantaire explained.

Enjolras felt a pang of guilt hit him. "Okay. I'm sorry. It's just parties aren't really my thing, but Courfeyrac is my best friend, so he made me come, and…I'm sure you don't really want to hear this."

"On the contrary, I actually do." Grantaire said with a playful smile.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Sure, you do. But I am sorry again. Can we start over?"

"Sure. I'm Grantaire." Grantaire told him, holding out his hand.

"Enjolras." Enjolras took Grantaire's hand to shake, and for the first time in months, smiled.

As the party went on, Enjolras and Grantaire found themselves, sitting on one of the couches that someone had brought up to the roof. Later in the evening, Courfeyrac came around with a Polaroid camera and took a picture of them sitting on the couch.

It's a picture that would eventually become Enjolras' favorite.

***

Their freshmen year went on, they both learned more about each other. Enjolras learned that Grantaire's mother died in a car accident when he was only three years old, and his father died of a heart attack almost right after he had graduated high school. The pain had been too much to deal with, so Grantaire had decided to leave Pennsylvania to move to New York to begin his college education to become an NYPD detective, just like Enjolras.

Despite Grantaire revealing to Enjolras one of the most personal things about his life, Enjolras still hadn't told Grantaire about his own traumatic experience that had occurred less than eight months ago.

Grantaire had almost immediately started to fall in love with Enjolras the moment they had met at Courfeyrac's party, and it had just grown more intense over the course of their freshmen year. But it was clear to him that Enjolras was doing whatever he could to keep him at arm's length. He wondered why, but Grantaire knew better than to push. He knew that Enjolras wasn't one of those people that wore their heart on their sleeve. No, he kept his heart locked up and refused to let anyone in, including him, but Grantaire was stubborn. He was determined to break down those walls.

***

Once their first year of college ended and since the one year anniversary of Mathieu's death was coming up, Enjolras withdrew more into himself. He didn't talk, he didn't sleep, and he didn't eat. He just stayed in the bedroom of the apartment that he shared with Combeferre, lying on the bed, staring at the wall until one day, there was a knock on the door and Grantaire came inside. He walked to the bed and pulled the covers back.

"Move over." Grantaire told him. Enjolras did as he was asked, and Grantaire climbed in next to him.

Enjolras didn't turn to look at him. Grantaire sat against the headboard.

"Alright, Apollo, what's going on?" Grantaire asked.

"Nothing." Enjolras said, weakly.

"It's not nothing. Come on, tell me." Grantaire said. Enjolras still didn't look at him. "Enjolras, I'm your friend, and I want to help you, but I can't if you don't tell me what's going on."

Enjolras sighed before rolling over to face his friend. "Alright. I had a brother. Mathieu. He was five years older than me. He was very protective of my sister and I. I never told you, but my parents adopted Cosette when she was only two because her mother had died and her father had abandoned them, and Valjean, a friend of my family, couldn’t take care of her, so my parents took her in. We didn’t care that she was adopted, she was our sister, through and through. But while that was the case, Mathieu and I were still incredibly close.” Grantaire couldn't help, but smile at the way Enjolras' face lit up when he talked about his siblings. "Mathieu was my best friend and my rock. He was the person that I told everything too. When I first started realizing that I was gay, Mathieu was the first one that I told. As I got ready to come out to my parents when I was 16, Mathieu told me that if they didn’t accept me, I could move in to his apartment in New Jersey. Thankfully, that didn't need to happen.

Enjolras paused and took a deep breath before he continued. "Anyway, about a year ago, I was working the closing shift at a bar in Chelsea. I was heading home when I discovered that my car battery was dead. So I called Mathieu to come and help me. Mathieu always came running when I needed him. We had just got the jumper cables hooked up when another car pulled up. Two men got out, but I couldn't see their faces. Mathieu told me to get in his car, but just as I closed the door, they pulled guns on him and killed him. They looked at me, but they left me alone. Once they heard sirens, they got in their car and left. The police arrived, and they started an investigation, but because they couldn't find any clues, they made it fit in to a box and tied it up with a bow and wrote it off as random gang violence. But I know that it wasn't. They came at him like animals. And his death was my fault."

"'Jolras, it was not your fault." Grantaire said

"How was it not?" Enjolras asked. "I was the one who called him. I was the reason that he was out and about that night. If it wasn't for me, he would still be alive."

"You can't know that." Grantaire tried to get him to understand. "You said that he was clearly a target. So, if that's true, they would have gotten him anyway. My guess is that Mathieu saw something that he shouldn't and it got him killed. But 'Jolras, it was not your fault. You are not to blame for your brother's death."

Enjolras started to cry, and Grantaire pulled him into his arms.

"'Jolras, I promise you that when we get our degrees, and apply to and make it into the NYPD police academy, and work the ranks up to detective. We will get our hands on your brother's file, find the sons of bitches that killed him, and put them behind bars, okay? His killers won't get away with it. I promise."

Enjolras calmed down enough to look at Grantaire and said, "Thank you."

They continued to stare intensely at each other, and that was the moment that Enjolras realized that he had feelings for Grantaire. Feelings that terrified him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EDIT (07/10/19): I edited the story to make Cosette the adopted sibling of Enjolras and Mathieu because...um...canon. However, that being said, Enjolras doesn’t see her as an adopted sibling. Just simply a sibling, who he loves with all his heart. Other edits over the time since this story was published were a few spelling/grammar mistakes and things that I felt didn’t make sense.
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally only going to post one chapter each update, but the more I thought about it, it just felt weird since my norm is doing two chapters each update. So, I'm going to continue with that trend.
> 
> ***TW FOR PANIC ATTACKS***
> 
> I don't know anything about how police ranks work, but for the sake of the story, pretend I do.
> 
> Disclaimer: All mistakes are mine and I don't own anything, but plot.

They went through their next three years of college. Before they graduated, they applied to the NYPD Police Academy and were accepted. During their time at the academy, Enjolras and Grantaire worked their asses off to graduate with top marks. Finally, after they graduated from the academy, they were able to call themselves NYPD rookies, but their training was still not over. For the next six months, they trained under the best officers in the force. After training under their TO's, they were given jobs as patrol cops.

Enjolras had only been on the force for one year, when he snuck down to the archives of the 19th precinct to get his brother's file. As a patrol cop, he wasn't authorized to be down there, but he needed to look through it. Every day following for the first three years of being on the force, he was down there whenever he wasn't on duty, reading and memorizing the file, searching for something that the detectives that first handled the case missed. Until one day, an officer named Royce Javert discovered him.

Enjolras explained that it was his brother's murder case and that he had found things that didn't make sense. He had been terrified that Javert was going to report him. But Javert could tell by the look in Enjolras' eyes that being written up wasn't going to stop him. So, instead, he took Enjolras, and at Enjolras' request, Grantaire, under his wing and trained them to be the best homicides on the force.

But instead of doing what he could to solve his brother's case, Enjolras crawled into it as his safety net. It took a year's worth of therapy and Grantaire's continued mantra that it wasn't his fault for him to realize that he needed to let it go or it would destroy him. Grantaire was his rock in anything regarding his brother's case.

Speaking of Grantaire, their relationship was as complicated as ever. It was clear to everyone around them that they had feelings for each other. Grantaire was in love with Enjolras, but it was clear that the man he loved wasn't ready for a relationship because every time that they got close to taking the next step, Enjolras would put up the walls that Grantaire had already teared down and would keep him at arm's length. But Grantaire never left because he knew that was the reason why he was kept at arm's length. Enjolras was terrified that he would leave or would be forced to leave, just like his brother. But Grantaire would never leave, not until Enjolras ordered him away. He would wait as long as he needed to.

Finally, in 2014, after four years of being on the force, they along with Courfeyrac got promoted to detectives under Royce Javert. He made Enjolras and Grantaire partners with Courfeyrac as part of their team. Combeferre continued in his journey of becoming a medical examiner.

But in September 2017, a call came in about a man that was killed by gunshot. A man named Rocky Joe. As they began to dig into his life, they learned that Rocky had a history with drugs and that his dealer was the well-known drug lord, Magnus Roy. Rocky had no family. Only Magnus. They had been able to find another one of Magnus' employee's, Zack Logan. Zack, however, refused to give them anything on Magnus, leading them back to square one.

The second day on the case, they sat in a conference room in the precinct where Courfeyrac, Grantaire, and Enjolras were looking over all of the files that they had obtained of Rocky's life. While Grantaire and Enjolras were flirting as they ate their Chinese takeout, Courfeyrac was looking over a paper that was titled "People That Worked for Magnus Roy". His eyes ran over the names, but there was one that popped out immediately.

Mathieu Enjolras.

Courfeyrac looked at the name to Enjolras back to the name. It finally caught Enjolras' attention.

"Courf, did you find something?" Enjolras asked

"Umm…" Courfeyrac stuttered.

Grantaire pulled the paper out of Courfeyrac's hand to look at what his friend had found. He scanned it over and when he saw Mathieu's name, he looked at Courfeyrac to Enjolras back to Courfeyrac.

"Guys, come on, tell me." Enjolras told them.

Grantaire took a deep breath before handing the paper over to Enjolras.

Enjolras' eyes scanned the list of names. His two friends knew the moment that he had caught sight of Mathieu's name because he looked up at them like he had just received the death blow.

"No, no. It's not possible." Enjolras said.

"I'm sorry, 'Jolras." Grantaire said, reaching for Enjolras' hand, but his friend pulled his hand away. He ran out of the room and towards the bathroom where he made it just in time to vomit into one of the toilets.

After a while, Enjolras sat in the stall, his legs pulled up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them, tears streaming down his face. There was a knock on the stall door.

"'Jolras, Captain wants to talk to you." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras sighed before taking a deep breath and standing up. He wiped his tears away before unlocking the door. He left the bathroom, Grantaire following after him. Enjolras walked into Javert's office while Grantaire stayed near Courfeyrac's desk.

Javert looked at Enjolras with sympathy in his eyes. He took out a flask from a drawer in his desk. Javert handed it over to Enjolras, who took a drink from it.

"Pour man's pain killer. I know that your brother's murder was the reason that you became a cop, and I know how you almost lost yourself trying to solve his case the first time you tried. And you would have, if it hadn't been for Grantaire. But I always figured sooner or later when you were ready, you would want to take another crack at it. I just never expected the people behind it would come around and sucker punch you like this. Julien, listen to me, you are the finest homicide that I have ever trained, bar none, and I want you to stay on this if you can, if you're up to it, but I wouldn't be doing my job as your Captain if I didn't ask. Can you handle this?" Javert asked.

Enjolras set the flask down before looking Javert in the eye. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't."

Enjolras then left the office, going toward his desk. He grabbed his leather jacket and walked out of the precinct, ignoring Grantaire's call of his name.

***

Later that night, Enjolras sat in the apartment that he shared with Combeferre, who was over at Courfeyrac's, waiting for a Skype call from his parents since they were across the country in Chicago. After he had left the precinct, he had gone home. Enjolras waited a few hours before he called his parents, telling them that he needed to talk.

Enjolras sat on the couch, the computer sitting on the coffee table, dressed in pajama pants and a faded concert T-shirt that was more than likely Grantaire's. He was looking out the window when the Skype call started coming in. He answered it and his parent's faces popped up.

"Hi, sweetie." Isabelle, his mother said.

"Hi, son." Gabriel, his father said.

Enjolras smiled, sadly. "Hi."

Isabelle could tell immediately what had happened. "Alright, Jules, what did you find?"

"I don't know." Enjolras said.

"But it was enough to scare you." Gabriel said.

Enjolras nodded. "Mom, Dad, I don't want to lose this one. Finding Mathieu's killers was the reason that I became a cop in the first place, but I don't know if I can do this. The first time I tried, I almost lost myself in it. If it wasn't for therapy and Grantaire, I never would have stopped. I'm scared of the same thing happening again."

"You're not alone, Jules. Courfeyrac and Combeferre will help you, and you know that it would be impossible for Grantaire to not help." Gabriel said.

"I know, I just…"

"We know." Isabelle said. "But what was Mathieu's motto?"

Enjolras smiled at the thought. "That life never gives you anything that you can't handle."

"Mathieu was a devout believer in the truth. And if he were here right now, he'd tell you the truth can never hurt you. You know, this may be your brother's way of reaching out to you, Jules. And reminding you the truth is still yours to wield. Not theirs." Isabelle told her son. "You can handle this, and you can do this. You have to do this. For him and for yourself."

Enjolras sighed before nodding.

He talked to his parents for a little while longer before he got dressed again, and headed over to Grantaire's apartment that he shared with Joly and Jehan. He knocked on the door. It was Grantaire that answered. When he walked in, Enjolras was welcomed with hugs from Joly and Jehan before they disappeared into their room.

"Hey, how you holding up?" Grantaire asked him once they were alone.

"I'm okay." Enjolras told him.

"Courf and I talked about it, and we'll do whatever you think is best, including nothing, if that's what you want." Grantaire told him.

"What I want is to find Mathieu's killers." Enjolras said, determined.

"Alright, well, if we are going to do that, we need to break one of Magnus' employee's." Grantaire said.

"Then, let's break them."

***

The days of investigation continued, they interviewed anyone that had ever been associated with Magnus Roy. As they continued to dive deeper, they learned that Mathieu had been one of Magnus' sellers, but when he refused to do it anymore, he threatened to tell the police. After the revelation that his brother had been dealing drugs, Enjolras started to doubt if he had really known his brother at all, especially if he could get caught up in something like this.

One day after that revelation, Enjolras and Grantaire were in the interrogation room, attempting to break yet another of Magnus' employee's. This one simply named Tramp. They only got a few questions in, when Tramp made the connection between Enjolras and Mathieu.

"You wouldn't happen to be Mathieu's brother, now, would you?" Tramp asked.

Grantaire felt Enjolras freeze, but it only lasted a couple seconds before Enjolras turned a glare on Tramp.

As the interrogation continued, Tramp started to goad Enjolras as he taunted him about his brother. It eventually got to Enjolras, and he became too hot-headed and shoved Tramp into the one-way mirror, shattering it.

Grantaire got Enjolras off of Tramp, just as Javert came storming into the room. He and Courfeyrac had been watching the interrogation from behind the mirror. "ENOUGH! Enjolras, my office. NOW! Courfeyrac, take care of him." Javert pointed to Tramp as Grantaire led Enjolras out of the room.

Javert was fuming when they got back to his office. "What are you doing, Julien? He was goading you, and you allowed him to get to you."

"I know, I'm sorry." Enjolras said.

"Sorry, isn't good enough!" Javert told him. "Look, Julien, I wanted you on this case, but you are too close to it. I'm sorry, but from this point on, you're benched from it."

"No, sir, please." Enjolras begged.

"Don't argue with me. You are too close, so go home and stay there." Javert told him.

Enjolras sighed in frustration and left the room. Grantaire watched him leave before turning to Javert.

"Sir, you can't do this to him." Grantaire said.

"What does the badge say?" Javert pointed to his badge.

"Captain, I know. But sir, you know how badly he needs this. Nothing is more important to him right now." Grantaire told him.

"It's too personal for him."

"Of course, it's personal!" Grantaire bellowed. "He watched Mathieu be taken out of this world. The person that he loved the most. He has spent the last 12 years of his life doing everything that he could to become the finest detective this city has ever seen to make sure that he brought Mathieu's killers to justice. You can't just take that away from him." Javert looked at Grantaire, but didn't budge. "At least, let it be his collar. Courfeyrac and I can handle the rest, but let him put the cuffs on." Grantaire reasoned.

Javert sighed and ran his hands over his face. "Fine. It will be his collar, but he is not part of the investigation. Any interrogation that you do, he watches from behind the glass. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir." Grantaire said before leaving.

***

After another two days, Courfeyrac and Grantaire eventually broke one of Magnus' employee's. The employee gave Magnus up on being the one who had given the order to kill both Mathieu and Rocky. The employee also confessed that it was Rocky and Zack Logan who carried out the order of killing Mathieu. Every single person that had worked for Magnus was arrested, including Zack, who had committed both the murders. The only one they couldn't find was Magnus, but that didn't last long. They found him at JFK, attempting to flee the country.

Magnus attempted to run when he saw Courfeyrac walking toward him, but was stopped by Grantaire, who walked him to where Enjolras was waiting with his cuffs. Grantaire forced him to turn around, so Enjolras could cuff him.

"Magnus Roy, you are under arrest for the murders of Rocky Joe, and my brother, Mathieu Enjolras." Enjolras finished before handing him over to Grantaire.

***

Later that evening, Enjolras went to Mathieu's grave to tell him the news. Grantaire and Courfeyrac had gone to Magnus' office and apartment to see if they could find any more evidence. When he returned home, he changed into pajama pants and old t-shirt. Enjolras was watching a movie on Netflix when there was a knock on the door. Combeferre had gone to stay at Courfeyrac's again. Enjolras opened the door to reveal Grantaire on the other side

"What are you doing here?" Enjolras asked after letting Grantaire in.

"I found this while we were searching Magnus' apartment." He held it up for Enjolras to see. It was a flash drive. Grantaire handed it over. Enjolras took it and looked at the markings. It said "For Julien" on the side. "It was in a box of Mathieu's things. There's one for Cosette and your parents, but those have to stay in evidence until the trial is over. Javert only allowed me to take this since he knew that you have been struggling with the revelations that we found out about Mathieu. We thought it could help."

Enjolras sighed before walking into his bedroom where his laptop was, Grantaire followed after him. He set his laptop on his lap. Grantaire sat down on the bed next to him. Enjolras plugged the flash drive in and the video popped in. Enjolras' breath hitched when he saw his brother's face on the video.

_"Hello, Julien. If you're seeing this than I am no longer with you, and I'm sorry for that. I guess, I'll explain why that is. My first year of college, I witnessed something involving Magnus Roy, a drug dealer, that I wasn't supposed to, and in order, to keep my silence and you, Cosette, and our parents safe, I had to work for him. Before I came home for the summer, near the end of my junior year, I told Magnus that I wanted out and I threatened to tell the police. After that, he let me go, but I knew that he had a hit out on me. I knew that I shouldn't have come home, but I needed to see you, Cosette, and our parents. Just one last time. Julien. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I'm not there to watch you grow up into the man that I know you'll be. I'm sorry that I'm not there for some of the most important moments of your life. But I need you to remember one thing. While I may not be with you, physically, I am still there. And I will always be watching over you. I also need you to remember one other thing. Life never gives you anything that you can't handle. You're smart and brave. Loyal. Hardworking. And so many other things. Julien, I know that you'll accomplish so many great things in your life. I love you."_

Mathieu blew a kiss at the screen before ending the video.

Grantaire glanced at Enjolras, who had tears streaming down his cheeks.

"See. He's still the brother that you knew." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras wiped the tears away before pulling the flash drive out of the laptop. He shut down the laptop and closed the lid. He placed the laptop on the ground. Enjolras turned to give Grantaire the flash drive.

"I'm sure you'll need this back." Enjolras told him.

Grantaire took it from him. "Enjolras, what are you thinking."

Enjolras shrugged. "I don't know." He thought about it for a few minutes. "I'm thinking about how I got lucky in finding Mathieu's killer. I'm thinking about how not all the families of our victims will be able to have that closure. Or what about the families that came before? I'm thinking about all the cold cases that are sitting in boxes in the archives of our precinct and all the other precincts around the city. I know what it is like for those families. Asking the question of "why". How they have to go through every day without knowing. They've grieved for their lost loved one, but they'll never have closure. I wish I could do something to help them."

"But you can't." Grantaire told him being brutally honest. "Look, Enjolras, I know that you believe that you have to save the world and everybody in it, but you can't. There will be cases that we can't solve. Families will never have the answers. But there are also plenty of cases that will be solved and the families will have answers. We took an oath, Enjolras, and we do everything in our power, every day, to uphold that oath. We will continue our jobs as being the best young detectives this city has ever seen, but you have to accept that you can't save the world."

Enjolras looked at Grantaire. "I know. When did you become such an optimist?"

"I've been friends with a certain blonde for over 12 years." Grantaire replied.

Enjolras chuckled for a couple seconds before stopping. They stared at each other, icy blue eyes meeting piercing jade eyes. Enjolras soon found himself leaning toward Grantaire.

And after 12 years, the line that they had been toeing was crossed the moment Enjolras' lips met Grantaire's. It took a couple seconds for Grantaire to respond, but he soon did. Enjolras pulled away to smile at him before bringing their mouths back together.

Enjolras fell back on the bed, taking Grantaire with him as they continued to kiss. Enjolras' hands found their way into Grantaire's silky dark curls as Grantaire's hands roamed his chest and waist under Enjolras' shirt. Enjolras tried to pull Grantaire closer in desperate need for him. Grantaire pulled away knowing where this was going to lead if they didn't stop.

"Are you sure?" Grantaire asked.

"Yes."

Enjolras brought Grantaire's mouth back down to his. He shuffled up, so that his head was on his pillows. His fingers found the hem of Grantaire's shirt, pulled it up, and over his head. His own t-shirt followed. Enjolras' fingers raked down Grantaire's bare chest as they continued to kiss. Enjolras could feel Grantaire's growing erection through his pajama pants and he moaned into Grantaire's mouth.

They pulled away from their kiss and smiled at each other. Enjolras moved a curl that had fallen in front of Grantaire's eyes behind his ear. Grantaire then leaned down to press a chaste kiss against his lips.

Enjolras' fingers found the belt buckle of Grantaire's jeans. He undid the jeans and pushed them down as far as they would go down his legs. Grantaire then pushed them the rest of the way off.

Grantaire moved to the side of the bed to grab the lube and a condom from the bedside table. Enjolras pushed his pajama pants off his body, throwing them somewhere in the room. Not a care in the world when there was a crash in the direction that he had thrown them in. Grantaire came back from grabbing the supplies. He pressed their mouths together again. Enjolras' fingers slid down Grantaire's back until they found their way inside of his boxers. He squeezed Grantaire's ass causing his lover to growl and him to smile.

Grantaire pulled away from Enjolras and shuffled down his body. He hooked his fingers in Enjolras' boxers, pulling them down. Enjolras' cock sprung forward. After the boxers were off, Grantaire's mouth found its way around Enjolras' cock.

Enjolras moaned. "Fuck." His fingers sliding their way into Grantaire's curls.

Grantaire's mouth slid down the cock slowly. His tongue licking every inch of it. He had waited for this moment for years, and he was going to relish in it. When he reached the base, Grantaire moved back up before continuing with the same movements. He could feel Enjolras pulling on his curls and Grantaire moaned around his cock. Enjolras jolted as the vibration went up through his body.

Enjolras' eyes slipped closed as Grantaire continued to suck him off. It felt so good. Enjolras had only had sex twice before in his life. Once because he had felt pressure from the people in his high school to have sex, so he did. And the other was after Mathieu had died. He had been in such a bad place and just needed the release, so he had gone to a gay bar with a fake ID, found somebody who was willing, and they fucked in the alleyway. Both times paled in comparison to what this felt like. This time he was with someone that he loved. He loved Grantaire. It was the first time that he ever actually admitted it to himself. For years, he knew that he had feelings for Grantaire, but had refused to put the L word on them, but now, there was no denying it.

He loved Grantaire. He was in love with Grantaire.

"Grantaire, please." Enjolras begged. Grantaire's teeth scraped across the tip of the cock causing Enjolras to buck his hips forward. "'Taire, please. Please."

After a few more sucks of his cock, Enjolras' cum was released into Grantaire's mouth. Grantaire swallowed every inch of it. Afterward, he brought his mouth up to Enjolras' to kiss him.

When he pulled away, Grantaire cupped Enjolras' face and smiled. "How do you feel?"

"Wonderful, but it wasn't enough. I need more of you." Enjolras pulled him closer to him and in for a kiss.

Grantaire pulled away. He got up to remove his own boxers. Enjolras spread his legs wide enough for Grantaire to see his entrance. Enjolras saw his eyes dilate with want and love. Grantaire reached for the lube and squeezed some onto his fingers. He pushed his fingers into Enjolras causing his lover to moan and grip the sheets.

He continued to open Enjolras up using one finger, then two, and finally three until Enjolras was begging for him to fuck him.

"Fuck me, please. Just fuck me." Enjolras said, his eyes squeezed shut and his knuckles white from the grip on the sheets.

"Yes, my sweet." Grantaire pressed a kiss to his forehead, pulling out his fingers and reaching for the condom. He opened it up, slid it on, and slicked it up. Grantaire lined himself up with Enjolras' entrance and slowly pushed his way in.

Enjolras let out the sweetest moan that Grantaire had ever heard as he continued to push inside of him. Enjolras wrapped his legs around Grantaire's waist once Grantaire was all the way inside of him. Grantaire looked to him for his okay to move and Enjolras nodded. Grantaire pressed a kiss to Enjolras' lips before he started moving.

It was a slow movement at first. Enjolras let out small moans and groans as Grantaire moved inside of him.

"God, 'Taire, you feel so good." Enjolras said, his hands gripped Grantaire's biceps.

Grantaire leaned down to kiss him as he continued to thrust. The moans that Enjolras was letting out were music to his ears. He had never heard anything more beautiful. He moved his mouth to the side of Enjolras' neck and started sucking. Enjolras groaned as his hand fell into his curls, keeping his head there, his eyes still closed.

"More, 'Taire. Please, more." Enjolras whispered.

Grantaire picked up his speed a little bit more. He brought their mouths back together.

"God, 'Taire! Fuck me." Enjolras told his lover.

Grantaire started thrusting even faster. His movements intensified so much that Enjolras' nails were digging into his shoulder blades.

"Faster! Harder! Please!" Enjolras screamed in pleasure.

Grantaire increased his speed enough that he was pounding into Enjolras, resulting in his lover letting out the most perfect and beautiful screams.

"It feels so good, please don't stop. Don't ever stop." Enjolras begged.

Enjolras brought his mouth to Grantaire's, but as they were kissing Grantaire hit his prostate causing Enjolras let out a pleasured scream. "Right there, 'Taire. Fuck me!" Enjolras let go of Grantaire to reach for the sheets. As Grantaire continued to thrust, Enjolras started to feel his release come. "Oh, God, 'Taire, touch me."

Grantaire wrapped his hand around Enjolras' cock and started to stroke him in time with his thrusts. Before they knew it, Enjolras' cum was coming all over their chests and Grantaire's hand. Grantaire continued his movements to help him through the orgasm.

He continued to thrust inside of Enjolras to reach his own. Enjolras looked up at him and smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear before pulling him in for a kiss. When Grantaire's own release came, Enjolras winced at the pulsing cock inside of him. After his release finished, he pulled out of Enjolras, slowly and disposed of the condom.

They cleaned themselves of cum before Grantaire crawled onto the bed next to Enjolras. As sweat dried on their bodies, they shared lazy kisses and touches, reveling in something both of them had wanted for so long.

They soon fell asleep. Enjolras' head laying on Grantaire's chest.

***

Enjolras soon woke up because he was way too warm. The New York summer heart was sweltering. When he felt smooth, but sticky skin underneath him, the memory of what had happened three hours ago came back with a vengeance.

He had sex with Grantaire.

He had admitted to being in love with Grantaire.

But he wasn't ready for a relationship with him. Enjolras didn't know if he would ever be ready for one with him.

Enjolras had always been terrified that the same thing that happened to Mathieu would happen to Grantaire, and hell, they were cops, so it could happen. And if he ever lost Grantaire, he couldn't survive it. He wouldn't want to live anymore.

Enjolras moved to the side of the bed to grab his boxers, but as he continued to think, he felt himself start to hyperventilate. He tried to get control of his breathing. Breathe in for four, hold for six, out for eight. As Combeferre had taught him, but it wasn't working. His lungs felt like they were closing in, his heart was beating rapidly, and his stomach felt nauseous.

He hadn't realized that Grantaire had woken up until he felt a cool hand on his shoulder.

"'Jolras, you alright?" Grantaire asked.

But the touch made it worse. He started to shake.

Grantaire had seen his fair share of Enjolras' panic attacks before, so he knew exactly what to do. He got out of the bed, grabbed his own boxers, came around the bed, and grabbed Enjolras' hands.

"'Jolras, it's okay. I'm here. You're fine. Just breathe." Grantaire soothed. "Look at me. Look at me."

Enjolras did as best as he could, but the look of concern in his eyes terrified him.

"'Jolras, breathe. Breathe with me." Grantaire told him. "In for four, hold for six, out for eight."

Grantaire just kept repeating that until Enjolras finally caught on and his breathing slowly started to become less shaky and he started to calm down.

"Just keep breathing. Breathe with me. In for four, hold for six, out for eight." Grantaire soothed. "You're okay. You're fine. I'm here." Grantaire used his thumbs to make circles on the back of Enjolras' hand. It was a way of letting Enjolras know that someone was there.

Finally, Enjolras seemed to finally calm down enough. He looked at him, and Grantaire saw tear in his lover's eyes.

"You want water?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras nodded. Grantaire let go of his hands to stand up. He walked into the bathroom to get the glass of water. When he came back, Enjolras had his arms wrapped around himself. Grantaire handed him the glass which Enjolras drank sips from.

Grantaire sat down next to him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

And with that the dam of tears that Enjolras was trying to stop, came through. Grantaire took the glass from him and set it on the bedside table before taking his lover in his arms.

"I'm here. It's alright." He rocked Enjolras back and forth trying to calm him down again.

"No, it's not alright." Enjolras said after a few moments. He pulled away from Grantaire. He rested his elbows on his knees, placing his head in his hands. "I can't do this, 'Taire. I'm not ready to do this."

Grantaire knew exactly what he was talking about, but he needed to be sure. "Ready for what?"

"Us." Enjolras told him. "And I know that it's not fair to you. I know that. All I've ever done is push you away, but I can't. I don't want to lose you. I don't want to lose you the way I lost Mathieu." Enjolras started crying again.

"'Jolras, that's not going to happen, I promise you." Grantaire said.

Enjolras looked at him. "But you can't promise that, can you? I mean, we're cops. There's a chance of one of us dying every day, and I can't lose you. I won't."

"'Jolras…" Grantaire said, looking away from him. "Do you regret what we did tonight?"

Enjolras was taken aback by the question. In what world would he ever regret having sex with the gorgeous man sitting in front of him? "No, I don't regret having sex with you. I could never regret that." He moved his hand to turn Grantaire's face toward him and cupped it with both hands. "Tonight was the best night of my entire life."

"But then why can't we just try?" Grantaire asked.

"Because I'm not ready, 'Taire. And I don't know if I'll ever be ready." Enjolras confessed. He heard Grantaire sigh. "There's a wall around my heart, 'Taire. You've torn all of them down except this last one, and I know that we'll never be able to have the kind of relationship that I want us to have until that wall comes down. But I don't know how to get it down." The tears came again, and Grantaire wiped them away.

"'Jolras, I believe that that wall will come down, it will just take time. And I will wait as long as I have to. I have waited this long, I can wait a little more. You're the only person on this entire planet that I want to be with. And I'm going to say something, and I know you aren't ready, but I just need to say it. I love you, Enjolras. I have loved you since the moment I saw you, and I will love you until the day I take my last breath." Grantaire confessed. "When the time comes, and you are ready, I will be waiting with open arms."

Enjolras nodded. "I know. I just hate making you wait. You deserve someone who can give their love openly."

"'Jolras, listen to me. I don't care about that. I understand that you have your own issues that need to be dealt with before any type of relationship can happen between us. I'm okay with that. I will wait patiently because I want to. Not because I have to." Grantaire assured.

Enjolras smiled before he kissed Grantaire again, deeply. When he pulled away, he asked. "But now, can we go to bed? I'm exhausted.

"Of course."

They climbed back into the bed and Enjolras cuddled up next to him with his head on Grantaire's chest. Enjolras was almost asleep when he felt Grantaire's lips on his hair and him whisper.

"I love you, Enjolras."

Enjolras smiled before drifting off to dreamland.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next two chapters on Wednesday!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Obviously, I don't own and the spelling/grammar mistakes are my own.

_One year later, September 2018_

Enjolras, Grantaire, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac were sitting at a table at a bar, celebrating the closure of yet another difficult and exhausting case. Courfeyrac was well on his way to being drunk, while the other three were still on their first or second drink.

"Okay, Courf, I think that's enough." Combeferre pulled the glass away from his boyfriend. Courfeyrac protested.

"You'll thank us in the morning, Courf." Grantaire said.

Enjolras chuckled from his spot under Grantaire's arm over the antics of his three best friends. Courfeyrac pouted before his attention turned to Enjolras and Grantaire.

"You two sure look cozy." Courfeyrac said.

Enjolras blushed and hid his face in Grantaire's chest as Grantaire kissed his forehead.

"Courf, leave them alone." Combeferre told him. It was their business, not his boyfriend's. But he still couldn't help but hope that maybe, just maybe, Enjolras had let down that last wall that was keeping them from being together and had decided to give them a chance.

About a half hour later, the four friends decided that it was time to leave and head home. Grantaire broke off from the group to run to the bathroom. Combeferre, Courfeyrac, and Enjolras all walked outside. Combeferre and Courfeyrac went to go get the car, leaving Enjolras standing outside the bar.

He was still waiting for Grantaire when all of a sudden, Theresa, the wife of the man that the group had just put behind bars, was standing a few feet away from him. Her husband had committed the murder of one of his clients of his business, as well as charges of fraud, embezzlement, and Ponzi schemes.

"I hope you had a spectacular time celebrating putting my husband in prison." Theresa said, looking visibly upset.

Enjolras looked at her as his hand reached for his gun that was concealed by his jacket. "Theresa."

"You ruined my happily ever after. I'm going to ruin yours." Theresa said, pulling a gun on Enjolras, just as he was taking the safety off of his and pulled his own on Theresa in self-defense.

They both shot at the same time. Theresa stood there for a few seconds before she fell to the ground. Dead. Enjolras stood there and looked down at his wound. The bullet hit him on the right side of his chest, wedging itself into his lung. The effects of the blood loss started immediately. His vision blurred as he fell to the ground.

"Enjolras!" He heard a voice scream before everything went black.

Grantaire had only seen the aftermath of Enjolras' confrontation with Theresa. He wasn't shaken from his shock until Enjolras hit the ground. He ran toward him, Combeferre right at his heels.

"Enjolras." Grantaire screamed as he took Enjolras' head in his lap.

Combeferre removed his jacket and placed it over the wound. He noticed right away that Enjolras was barely breathing.

"There's so much blood." Grantaire said.

"That's the least of his problems. He's barely breathing."

"What?"

"There's decreased inhalation on the right side."

"Well, then let's get him to a hospital." Grantaire cried.

"He won't make it to a hospital. His lung is collapsing." Combeferre saw the terrified expression on Grantaire's face. "R, I promise you that I will do whatever I can to save him." Courfeyrac approached, but before he could get any closer. Combeferre saw him and rattled off a list of supplies to him. "Courf, I need you to go back to the car. Grab the flask of vodka you had. I need a knife, gloves, a syringe, and a rubber band. Go, now." Courfeyrac ran back in the direction of the car.

Grantaire ran his hands over Enjolras' face and curls. He leaned down to whisper to his love. "You're going to be alright. Just hang in there. Just stay with me."

Combeferre turned back to see how Courfeyrac was coming along. He was running back towards them. "Come on, Courf!"

"Here, here." Courfeyrac said, handing him everything.

"Courf, I need you to hold this here. Whatever you do, do not let it go. We can't let anymore air get in." Combeferre took Courfeyrac's hand and placed it on his jacket to keep pressure on Enjolras' wound.

Courfeyrac did as he was told as Combeferre got gloves on and ripped open Enjolras' shirt. He told Courfeyrac to replace the jacket with one of the many latex gloves he brought. Combeferre pulled the syringe apart, so that he could use the tube of the syringe to wrap part of a glove around it with the rubber band. Combeferre then took the knife. He poured vodka all over it, then did the same to Enjolras' chest.

He looked up at Grantaire, who had tears running down his cheeks and was desperately holding on to Enjolras' hand. Combeferre moved to stab Enjolras with the knife a few centimeters above the gunshot wound. Courfeyrac protested.

"I know what I'm doing." Combeferre told his boyfriend.

He stabbed Enjolras with the knife. Combeferre used the knife to hold open the hole it made as he stuck the tube inside, next to the knife. He pulled the knife away after.

"Come on, Enjolras, breathe." Combeferre demanded.

The three men looked patiently as Enjolras took a breath and the glove filled with air.

"Again, Enjolras, breathe."

He took another breath and Combeferre sighed in relief.

"He's going to be fine." He took his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Courfeyrac. "You need to call 911 and tell them we have an officer down with a bullet wound. We need an ambulance to this address to New York General immediately." Courfeyrac ran off to make the call.

Grantaire pressed another kiss to Enjolras' forehead. Combeferre swore that he heard Grantaire whisper "I love you" but he couldn't say for sure because it was so quiet.

After a few minutes, Combeferre could hear the sirens of the ambulance make its way to their location.

Once the paramedics arrived, they placed Enjolras on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance, and he was taken away from his friends. His friends followed close behind in Combeferre's car. All three, but mostly Grantaire, still covered in Enjolras' blood.

***

Enjolras was slipping in and out of consciousness as the doctors and nurses wheeled him into the ER before everything went black around him. When he woke up, it was to the sounds of beeping in his ears.

"Hey, you're awake. Don't worry. It's all going to be fine." He heard a female voice say before realizing that it was a nurse with blonde hair, who had been checking his heartbeat with her stethoscope.

"I have…no idea where I am." Enjolras said.

"New York General. You were brought in by ambulance last night." The nurse said. She realized that Enjolras was uncomfortable. "First timer, I take it." The nurse smiled as she continued to check his vitals. "Well, I called and said the other bed was broken, so you could have some peace and quiet."

"Thank you. Don't really need any crazy roommates, right now." Enjolras said. Then he realized that he hadn’t seen any signs of his friends. "Speaking of, um…have you seen my friends?"

"The sandy blonde haired one with glasses, a dark curly haired on, hyper and reeking of vodka, and another dark curly haired one, who wouldn't stop pacing until he knew you were okay." The nurse said.

Enjolras smiled. "Sounds about right."

"They didn't leave your side after you came out of surgery. I finally was able to get them to go home to clean themselves up and sleep, but I don't think they will stay away for long." The nurse said as she walked around the bed to check on the saline/IV stand. "You did great in surgery. Both of them." The nurse said.

"Both? What are you talking about?" Enjolras asked.

The nurse nodded. "When you were shot, you were barely breathing and your right lung was collapsing. Your sandy haired doctor friend performed a needle thoracostomy on the sidewalk with a pocket knife. If it wasn't for him, you'd be dead."

Enjolras filed that information away, so that he could thank Combeferre the next time he saw him.

"Um…the doctor will be in shortly to check up on you. I have rounds, so I'll see you later. Hang in there." The nurse said, grabbed some files, and leaving the room.

"Thanks." Enjolras said. He heard buzzing next to his head, realizing it was his phone. He did his best to grab it from the table without pulling or tearing at his stitches. It was a text from Courfeyrac saying that he, Combeferre, and Grantaire would be there in about a half hour.

Right on the dot of a half hour later, Courfeyrac and Combeferre stumbled in. Courfeyrac had balloons and a stuffed bear in his arms. Grantaire decided to wait near the entrance of the room with his flowers.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "A stuffed bear? How pathetic am I?" He said in a teasing tone.

Courfeyrac stuck out his tongue before hugging him. Enjolras let out a groan.

"Careful, Courf." He said.

"Sorry."

Combeferre hugged him next, but much more carefully.

Enjolras looked at his best friends. "Thank you."

"We couldn't lose you." Combeferre said, brushing off the thank you.

Enjolras smiled. "So, you are a sidewalk surgeon. You know, if I could make six figures a year doing that, I would not be in a basement cutting open dead people."

Combeferre simply shrugged with no reply.

Enjolras looked behind his friends and saw Grantaire standing there, flowers in his hand, looking anxious. He looked at the other two in the room. "Um…could you give us a few moments, please?" He asked.

The two nodded before heading out of the room.

"Just text when you're done." Courfeyrac said.

Grantaire walked closer to Enjolras' bed. He set the flowers on the table before sitting down on the bed, grabbing Enjolras' hand.

Enjolras noticed the look of sadness on his face. "Okay, this is not a place for sadness, so wipe that look of your face, 'Taire."

Grantaire did his best to smile, but failed. Instead, he brought Enjolras' hand to his mouth to kiss it.

"You know, I watched Combeferre perform the procedure. I sat there helpless. I wanted to help, but my attention was so focused on you, that I couldn't. All I could do in those moments was watch you slip away." Grantaire told him. The pair looked at each as Enjolras squeezed Grantaire's hand. "I thought that I had lost you." Grantaire said.

Enjolras smiled at him. "You didn't lose me, I'm right here." Grantaire looked at him. Enjolras saw the tears in his eyes. "'Taire, I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay right here. Beside you." He pulled Grantaire's hand to get his friend to come closer before pulling him down to press his lips to Grantaire's.

When they pulled away from the kiss, they hugged each other carefully.

Grantaire was still in the room when a dark haired man in a lab coat walked in the room.

The doctor came closer to the bed, not realizing that there was another person in the room. "How are you feeling, Anjolraz?" He asked, completely butchering his name.

"It’s Enjolras." He corrected and the doctor apologized. "But to answer your questions, I feel like I was hit by a bus." The doctor chuckled as he looked at Enjolras' file. "Um…who are you?" Enjolras asked, feeling stupid.

The doctor looked at him. "Right. I'm Dr. Keller. I performed your second surgery."

Enjolras nodded and thanked him.

"Everything is looking fine with your recovery. We'll just need to keep you in here for a couple more days to make sure everything stays fine." Dr. Keller said as he looked up from the file.

At the first glance of the doctor's face, Grantaire spoke, shocked. "Alex."

Alex turned his attention to him. "Nic? Nicolas Grantaire?"

"You two know each other." Enjolras asked, confused as to what was going on.

Grantaire looked down at Enjolras. "That would be an understatement."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, but the grammar and spelling mistakes.

Alex hugged Grantaire as he said, "I had heard that you were now a police detective, but I never expected. How long has it been?"

"Way too long." Grantaire said, only having eyes for Alex.

"You look exactly the same." Alex said.

"And you've improved." Grantaire told him, teasingly.

Alex smiled at him before a buzzing was going off, signally that he was being paged. "Well, it looks like I have to go. Let's catch up, sometime."

"Yes, let's." Grantaire said, and with that Alex was gone in a flash.

As he watched him leave, Grantaire shook the shock away. "Alex Keller. Wow."

"I take it he was someone special?" Enjolras asked. Not knowing how to feel about this revelation.

Grantaire looked down at Enjolras. "He's the one that got away."

Enjolras did his best to not look sad, but he didn't know how well he was hiding it.

"Um…as much as I would love to stay, I have to go down to the precinct to explain to Javert what happened last night. We've kind of left him in the dark." Grantaire explained.

"Okay. Do what you got to do."

Grantaire leaned down to kiss his cheek before leaving the hospital room.

A few moments later, Combeferre and Courfeyrac came back in.

"Where did Grantaire go?" Combeferre asked.

"He was headed down to the precinct to explain what happened last night." Enjolras said.

"Oh, I see. This is probably not the day that Javert had planned." Courfeyrac said.

Enjolras nodded. "Same with Grantaire. Apparently, Grantaire has a history with my doctor."

"Ancient, modern, or sexual?" Combeferre asked.

"Seems like all of the above." Enjolras commented.

Courfeyrac took the opportunity to ask. "You okay with that?"

Enjolras looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

Courfeyrac gave him a pointed look. "Enj, come on. Grantaire's lost love?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Enjolras asked.

"Boy, I'm gonna smack you." Courfeyrac sighed in exasperation. "You two have been in this merry-go-round sexual tension filled dance for over 12 years, and now his ex-boyfriend shows up. You can't tell me that you're not the least bit jealous."

"Or the least bit worried?" Combeferre asked.

Enjolras looked at the both of them. "Look, guys, I don't know how I feel about it, okay? And until I do, can we drop it, please?"

His two best friends held up their hands in surrender. Enjolras sighed. He tried to put it out of his mind, but that was impossible when thoughts about the chance that his two best friends were right started to plague his mind.

***

Later that night at the apartment that Grantaire shared with Joly and Jehan. Grantaire searched his bedroom, looking for something. He finally found it. It was a leather bound journal. When he opened it, a picture of him and Alex fell out. He grabbed it to look at it as memories came rushing back.

When he arrived back home, he told Joly and Jehan who he had seen at the hospital. Neither of them were very happy because Alex had just been trouble when they had known him 13 years ago. Alex had left Grantaire with no explanation after his father's death. Grantaire had already been heartbroken over his father's death, but when Alex left, he fell into a dark place. Then, he met Enjolras, and everything got better. Yes, he and Enjolras were still in their round and round dance, but all their friends hoped it would end soon.

"Nicolas Grantaire, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Joly screeched from the doorway of his bedroom.

"Nothing." Grantaire said, looking up from the picture. "It's just a picture."

Jehan came to stand next to his boyfriend. "No, R, it's a loaded gun. Need I remind you that he walked out on you with no explanation as to why. And what about Enjolras?"

"My heart still belongs to Enjolras, but Alex and I need closure. Or at least, I need closure. I need to know why he left."

Jehan sighed. "Alright, R. I just hope you know what you're doing."

Grantaire glanced at the picture. "Me too."

***

The next day, Enjolras was sitting up in his hospital bed, the bear Courfeyrac gave him, tucked under his elbow. The nurse, who he learned was named Kelly, had just finished changing his bandage. Courfeyrac and Grantaire came into his room.

"Combeferre was called in to work, but he said that he might be by later." Grantaire said.

"We have a special message for you from Cosette." Courfeyrac said, pulling out his phone to play the message.

 _"Hey, big brother! Combeferre told us about the accident. We wish we could be there, but you know Marius' job and wedding details are keeping us from coming. Maybe in a few weeks we'll be able too. Anyway, get better soon! I'll call to catch up with you once you're out of the hospital. I love you!"_ Cosette smiled and blew a kiss before waving bye and turning off the camera.

Enjolras smiled and asked Grantaire to grab his phone, so he could text his sister a message. He received a reply of heart eye and kiss emoji's.

After that, Grantaire looked at Enjolras, who just stared at him intently. "Alright, we grew up together. We were together for two years, and then we broke up after my dad died."

"I didn't ask." Enjolras said.

"Yes. You were not asking very loudly." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras didn't say anything, just turned toward Courfeyrac, who shrugged. Just then, Alex came into the room to check on Enjolras.

"Well, the good news is that I think you will be well enough to head home tomorrow. Just make sure to keep changing the bandages of the wound. You'll need physical therapy, but you're going to be just fine." Alex said. He turned his gaze to Grantaire. "And you. We said we would catch up, so how about meeting for coffee?"

Grantaire looked Alex's shoulder to Enjolras, who had a blank look on his face. Then, he glanced at Courfeyrac, who had a disapproving look on his face. "Umm…I'll have to think about it."

"Okay, well, give me a call." Alex said, seductively slipping a piece of paper into the pocket of Grantaire's button down, kissed his cheek, and then left.

Grantaire glanced at Enjolras, who didn't say anything, but Grantaire wished that he would say something. Anything. In the year since they had slept together, they had definitely gotten closer, but the wall was still around his love's heart. Grantaire wasn't going to push on their relationship, but he still wished that Enjolras would at least talk to him about how he felt about their current situation with Alex.

Enjolras turned to look at Courfeyrac. "What did Javert say?"

"Um…well, you'll be on desk duty until as he said, "You were physically and emotionally up to par." Then, obviously no gun until you requalify and your therapist has signed off on the dotted line." Courfeyrac said.

"And in the meantime, Courfeyrac and I are a two person team." Grantaire said.

Enjolras nodded. He figured that would happen, but he still hated it. Desk duty was the most boring thing in the entire world. There was not one ounce of excitement in doing paperwork, filing said paperwork, making coffee runs, and sharpening a whole shit ton of pencils.

***

The next day, Combeferre and Courfeyrac came to get him. Courfeyrac had come to his room to help him while Combeferre filled out the discharge papers.

"Where's Grantaire?" Enjolras asked after he had gotten dressed.

Courfeyrac shifted uncomfortably. "Um…he agreed to meet Alex for coffee for their catch up."

Enjolras felt his heart twist and tears prickle, but he turned to hide from Courfeyrac. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't cry, but that mantra didn't work. He was soon crying over the duffle bag that his friends had brought him. Courfeyrac placed a hand on his shoulder, and he turned to face his friend. Courfeyrac pulled him into his arms as Enjolras cried into his shoulder.

"I'm going to lose him. I can already tell." Enjolras said into his friend's shoulder.

"You are not going to lose him. I won't let that happen." Courfeyrac said, trying to comfort his friend by rubbing his back.

Enjolras was still crying when Combeferre came back, but no one needed to say anything for he already knew what was wrong. They left the hospital in silence.

***

Later that night, once Combeferre was done with the dinner dishes, he said goodnight.

Enjolras replied, "Goodnight."

"I'll see you in the morning." Combeferre said before disappearing into his room.

Enjolras walked around the apartment before pulling his sweater back to look at his bandage in the hallway mirror.

"You know I could help you with that." Grantaire's voice said behind him. He'd gotten a key when Enjolras and Combeferre had moved in, just in case he ever need it. Enjolras hadn’t even heard him come into the apartment. "The dressing part."

Enjolras covered it again as he turned to walk toward his friend. "No, it's okay. I got it."

The pair moved to stand near the island in the kitchen.

Grantaire smiled at him before walking forward to kiss him, but Enjolras backed away. Grantaire knew immediately what was going on. "Seriously? Again? Will that wall ever come down?"

Enjolras looked at him. "Grantaire, I know that it's not fair to you. I know that. But it's complicated."

"I know. I know that you have your issues to deal with, and I will continue to wait. But answer me this, am I really not an option for you?" Grantaire asked him.

Enjolras looked at Grantaire, confused. "You're the only option. The only person that I want to be with. But do you honestly expect me to believe that your ex-boyfriend showing up doesn't change everything?"

Grantaire walked closer. "It doesn't change us."

Enjolras shrugged. "Maybe you're right. Maybe this wall will never come down. Maybe we'll never be together. Maybe I don't remember how to be close to somebody." Grantaire looked away from his friend. "Alex might have left you, Grantaire, but he still clearly loves you." Grantaire's eyes snapped back to his. "Maybe you need to find out if you still love him."

"But I don't, Enjolras. My heart belongs to you. _I love you_." Grantaire told him, cupping his face.

"You may love me, Grantaire," Enjolras pulled his face away from Grantaire's hands. "But you obviously need closure with him."

The pair stared at each other. Tears welling up in both of their eyes. Enjolras turned away from Grantaire to go bandage his wound again. Once he was in the bathroom, he heard the front door close, signaling that Grantaire had left.

Enjolras hated that he was hurting him again, but Grantaire needed the closure with Alex. And while it hurt him too, he didn't know what else to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you again on Friday! Angst is coming, so be prepared.
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	5. Chapter 5

Enjolras was in his apartment, working on balancing his right arm as part of his physical therapy. It had been about a week since Enjolras had told Grantaire that he needed to get closure with Alex. Combeferre had already headed into work as had Courfeyrac. Enjolras would be heading in to continue his desk duty after his appointment with his therapist. He lifted up the dumbbell that was in his right hand and winced in pain.

He heard the door open, then there was a knock. Enjolras turned around only to be greeted by Grantaire.

"Hi." Enjolras said.

Grantaire smiled. "Hey."

Enjolras gestured to the area where he had been shot. "Remind me to never get shot again."

"Never get shot again." Grantaire teased as Enjolras waved him in.

Grantaire came in. "Okay. Put the dumbbell down."

Enjolras did as he was told. "Why do I get the feeling that this is going to hurt even worse?"

"Just give me your hands." Enjolras gave him his hands. "You need to work on your flexibility."

Enjolras chuckled. "I don't remember asking you to be my personal physical therapist."

Grantaire told him to lean slightly back and that's what Enjolras did.

"I feel like I'm sleepwalking." Enjolras explained as he leaned forward again.

"And again." Grantaire instructed.

All of sudden the room was erupted in the sound of a phone ringing.

"You want to answer that?" Enjolras asked Grantaire as he leaned back.

Grantaire shook his head. "It's okay. I'll him back."

Realizing who the "he" was, Enjolras let go of Grantaire's hands. "Grantaire, really, it's okay. I don't mind."

"Thanks." But just as Grantaire took the phone out of his pocket, it stopped ringing. "Look, Enjolras, this whole thing is…"

"You don’t have to explain." Enjolras said as he went go get a drink of water.

"But you and I…" Grantaire started.

"You and I…" Enjolras sighed. "I don't know what we are, 'Taire. Like I said, it's complicated. Just focus on getting your closure while I sort out my issues."

Grantaire nodded. "Okay. I should be going. I'll see you at the precinct."

Enjolras didn't say anything as Grantaire headed out of the apartment. He looked at the time and saw that he needed to start getting ready to head to his therapy appointment.

***

When he arrived at the clinic, Enjolras put his name in and waited for his therapist, David, to call him back. After he was called back, they walked to David's office. David asked him if he wanted anything.

"Just coffee. Sugar and milk. Please." Enjolras told him.

"I'll be right back with that." David went to go and get Enjolras his coffee. A few minutes later, he came back with two mugs of coffee. He handed Enjolras' to him. "You can sit."

Enjolras shook his head. "I'd rather stand."

David nodded as he went to get Enjolras' file from the pile on his desk before sitting down at the table.

"Shall we begin?" David said.

Enjolras took a sip of coffee as he nodded.

"How have you been, Enjolras?" David asked.

"Alright. I've been keeping up with all of my physical therapy. Restrictive duty is a pain in the ass. My friends, Combeferre and Courfeyrac, have been supportive." Enjolras said.

"And what about your partner, Grantaire. How are things with him? Especially after the shooting." David asked.

"Complicated, but when have they ever been easy." Enjolras said, taking another drink of his coffee.

"Why are they so complicated?" David asked.

Enjolras sighed. "Because I don't know how to let him in." He took another sip. "We’ve been in this round and round dance for years, and I know how he feels about me. And I know how I feel about him, but I've never said it out loud. It doesn't help that all I've ever done is push him away."

"And why do you think you've done that?"

Enjolras looked at him. "Because I know that until the damn wall around my heart gets taken down, I will never be able to have the relationship with him that I want to have." He sighed as he started to pace. "And now, it doesn't help that his ex is back in the picture. But I can't be an ass about it since I'm the one who told him to get closure with the guy in the fucking first place."

"Why can't you be an ass about it? Especially if you have feelings for him."

"Because weren't you listening, all I've ever done is push him away." Enjolras sighed in frustration.

David sighed. "Yes, I was listening. And let me just say that I am impressed by your willingness to open up so quickly."

"Yes, I know the mandatory routine. The sooner I spill my heart, the faster I get out of here." Enjolras stopped pacing to turn to face him.

"Okay, we will get back to the issues regarding the wall and Grantaire, but right now, what is mandatory is that we discuss the trauma that you went through during the shooting." David said.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "You were the one who brought Grantaire up."

David pressed his lips together. "Point taken. But like I said, we'll get back to talking about Grantaire since it’s clear that needs to be talked about too."

"Okay." Enjolras moved to sit down across from David. "I'm sorry if I come off a little intense. I've had enough therapy to last me a lifetime in the years since my brother was killed."

"Which I understand." David said. "But in all seriousness, how are you dealing with the trauma from the shooting?"

"I'm doing fine for it is still not the worst trauma that I've ever experienced." Enjolras said, taking another sip of coffee.

"Of course." David said.

After a while, the session was over, allowing Enjolras to be free to leave. He walked out of the clinic and to his car. He sighed as he turned on to the ignition and drove to the precinct.

***

He arrived at the precinct and went up to the homicide floor, Enjolras into the bullpen and straight to his desk. His desk was right next to Grantaire's. Grantaire was there and he had a file in his hands.

"New case?" Enjolras as he sat down. He booted up his computer as he took off his jacket.

"Yep." Grantaire said as he printed something off before going to get it. "Reading about skydiving is surprisingly very boring. I hope that what you'll be doing will be a lot more interesting."

Enjolras grabbed a whole handful of pencils. "Oh, yeah, I have sharpened every pencil in this damn precinct."

Grantaire chuckled as he grabbed a pencil. "Thank you."

"So, how's the case going?" Enjolras asked.

"Sorry, partner, you're out on this one." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras groaned as he ran his hands through his hair. "Okay, 'Taire, if you don't tell me about this case, I will tell Cosette to make you a groomsmen in their wedding."

Grantaire's eyes went wide. He checked the room to make sure that Javert was nowhere in sight. "Have you ever heard of Lucas Hawkes?"

Enjolras shook his head. "No." He turned to his computer to look up who Lucas Hawkes was. When the searches had loaded, Enjolras clicked on the first link that was listed. It took him to a website of Hawkes Worldwide where it listed Lucas Hawkes as CEO.

"He's one of Forbes' wealthiest men under 35. He went skydiving with his wife. Her parachute didn't open, neither did the backup." Grantaire explained.

Just then, Combeferre came into the bullpen with the medical file of Lucas Hawkes' wife. He was there to visit Courfeyrac. "That's because the parachute was definitely tampered with. Hey, Enj."

"Hey. I didn't hear anything." Enjolras said as he turned to the computer.

"Based on the latent bacteria on the rip cord, it was cut 16 to 20 hours before the jump." Combeferre explained to Grantaire.

Grantaire nodded. "All right. I'll look into Lucas Hawkes' alibi."

"You may want to check if he's left handed. From the angle of the cut, I'm 99% sure that the cutter was a lefty."

"But I did hear that." Enjolras told the pair.

Combeferre nodded. "And that's my cue. I'm going to see my boyfriend." He left to head to the breakroom where Courfeyrac was getting coffee.

Grantaire continued to go through the file. Enjolras watched him intently.

"Okay, 'Taire, you need to let me work on this case." Enjolras told his friend.

Grantaire shook his head. "Sorry, 'Jolras, Javert laid down the law. You're to know nothing, nada, zero, zip." He stood up, grabbed the file before heading into the interview room with Courfeyrac, who had already said goodbye to Combeferre.

Enjolras glared slightly at the back of his friend's head before turning back to his computer.

***

In the interview room, Courfeyrac and Grantaire were interviewing Lucas Hawkes to finishing getting his statement and to see if he had an alibi for when the parachute was cut.

"Mr. Hawkes, did anyone besides you and your wife have access to her parachute?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Am I being interrogated?" Lucas asked.

"No, sir, we're just trying to access the facts." Grantaire said.

Lucas nodded. "The facts are that Miranda and I pack our own chutes."

"And the morning of the jump, nothing was out of place?" Courfeyrac asked.

Lucas shook his head. "No one touches them but us."

"I know that this difficult, but we only have a few more questions to ask you." Grantaire said.

***

Outside of the interview room, Enjolras was walking back into the bullpen after going on his coffee run. He gave everyone else their coffee. Enjolras noticed that there was a random woman sitting in the waiting room. He walked over to her because he couldn't help it. He was going to be part of this case. It wouldn't be the first time that he broke Javert's rules.

"You're with Lucas Hawkes, right?" Enjolras asked. She nodded.

"Detective Julien Enjolras." He introduced himself.

"Sue Davis, CFO of Hawkes Worldwide." Sue introduced herself.

Enjolras sat down next to her. "So, how is Lucas taking it?"

"He's a wreck. Plus, we're in the middle of a big IPO deal and we spent the entire day before Miranda's death in marathon meetings." Sue explained.

"Sounds stressful."

Sue nodded, "Tears me up to see Lucas like this."

Enjolras asked, "Did they have a happy marriage?"

"Storybook. Outside of work, they did everything together." Sue told him. "When somebody becomes that integral to your life and suddenly they're gone, it makes you wonder who you are without them."

"Yeah, I have some personal experience in that department." Enjolras said, taking a sip of his coffee. He turned his head to see Courfeyrac, Grantaire, and Lucas coming out of the room. As did Sue, who stood up.

"If we need to talk with you further?" Grantaire asked.

"I work the rest of the afternoon, then tonight there's this event I have to be at. That I obviously don't want to be at." Lucas said.

"But that you can't miss." Sue added.

"Exclusive billionaire boys' club kind of deal at the Dylan Club. You are more than welcome to stop by if you need to pull me aside for a few minutes." Lucas said.

"Call me whenever – I'll track him down." Sue said.

Sue and Lucas looked at each other and made their way out of the precinct. Courfeyrac turned to his friends with an idea.

"We should go to the Dylan Club."

Grantaire raised an eyebrow. "What to party with suspect?"

"No, we'll go under the guise of working on the case." Courfeyrac explained

"When in reality we're going?" Grantaire asked.

"About the case." Courfeyrac said. "You're in, right?" Turning to Enjolras.

"Um…I guess." Enjolras shrugged.

Courfeyrac looked at Grantaire, who shook his head. "Oh, what the hell, why not."

"I'll ask Combeferre." Courfeyrac said. Grabbing his phone to call his boyfriend at the morgue to do just that.

Grantaire and Enjolras looked at each other before rolling their eyes at their friend's antics.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but the spelling/grammar mistakes.

Later that night, Enjolras, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac all walked into the Dylan Club where the party was in full swing. They had called Grantaire, but he told them that he'd meet them there. When they arrived, they turned their jackets into the vendor before going to search for Grantaire. Enjolras, eventually, found him, talking to Lucas with Alex at his side. Combeferre and Courfeyrac came up behind him.

"I'm sorry, Enj." Courfeyrac said. "If I had known he was going to invite him, I never would have suggested…"

"No, it's fine. You needed to come for the case. I'll be fine." Enjolras told his friends, going to stand near a pillar.

Grantaire saw Enjolras out of the corner of his eyes as he reached for a flute of champagne. He turned to Alex.

"I'll be right back." He walked to Enjolras, who had picked up a champagne flute of his own. "I'm sorry. It's just when he learned where I was going, he insisted." Grantaire tried to explain.

Enjolras sighed. "'Taire, it's fine, okay?"

He walked away to go search for Combeferre. He found his friend near the snack table.

"Are you sure that you're okay?"

Enjolras shrugged. "No, but it can't get any worse, can it?"

Combeferre watched his friend before turning his head to watch the crowd. Courfeyrac came up to stand next to them. The music changed from a fast song to a slow song. Combeferre saw Alex drag Grantaire out to the dance floor. He looked over at Enjolras, who was having a conversation with Courfeyrac. Courfeyrac stopped talking when he noticed what his boyfriend was looking at.

"What?" Enjolras asked Courfeyrac before his eyes followed their direction. He saw Grantaire with his arms wrapped around Alex as they slow dance. "Apparently, it can get worse." Enjolras said, sadly. The tears started prickling.

Combeferre and Courfeyrac looked at their best friend, who they could tell was trying to stop the tears from coming.

Enjolras realized that he had to get out of there. He handed his champagne flute to Courfeyrac. "I'll see you guys at home. Find out whatever you can on the case."

He walked away from them and toward the coat vendor. A tear slipped down his cheek, but Enjolras quickly wiped it away.

"Coat 56, please." He told the vendor.

The vendor gave him his jacket. Enjolras threw it on. He was making his way toward the door when Grantaire's voice came from behind him.

"You're leaving, but you just got here."

Enjolras avoided looking at him. "Um…yeah. I'm not feeling that well."

"I see." Grantaire replied. Just from the way that Enjolras wasn't looking at him, told him that he was lying, but he decided to let Enjolras go.

Enjolras walked out of the Dylan Club, but when he was a certain distance away, he burst into a sprint, in the direction of his apartment. He could feel tears streaming down his face as he ran. Once he arrived at the apartment, he removed his suit that he wore to the Dylan Club in exchange for his normal jeans, button down shirt, and leather jacket. Enjolras, then left the apartment to drive to the gun range.

He arrived at the gun range. Enjolras grabbed a practice gun and ear muffs before picking a target. He placed the ear muffs over his ears, filled the gun with bullets before shooting at the target.

Enjolras took shots at the target. After the round that he fired, he pressed a button that would bring the target forward, so he could see the shots at the target better. When it got closer, Enjolras saw that none of the holes were even close to the middle. Enjolras set the gun down and removed the muffs to run his hands through his hair.

He sighed before changing the sheet, and shot at the new sheet a few more times. Doing his best to get out all of his frustration about the situation between him, Grantaire, and Alex.

Eventually, he had worked out enough of the frustration to be ready to leave the firing range.

***

Back at the Dylan Club, Courfeyrac was standing next to Sue, watching Lucas close a deal with some business men.

Courfeyrac sighed. "Look, I'm sure this is inappropriate for me to say, especially since I have a boyfriend, but your boss is H-O-T."

"And as hot as he is, is as kind and generous as he is." Sue said, admiring him.

Courfeyrac looked at Sue, skeptically. "Sounds like someone has a crush."

"Not anymore." Sue commented.

Courfeyrac turned back to look at Lucas. "He's smooth. Looks like he's wrapping up a big deal."

"Those suits he's talking to are with the SEC. They're discussing the initial public offering." Sue said.

"Shouldn't you be a part of that conversation?" Courfeyrac asked. "You’re the chief financial officer."

"Lucas likes to take his high-level meetings alone." Sue explained.

Courfeyrac then remembered a detail from the case that he had forgotten. "The day before Miranda Hawkes' death, Lucas was in an all-day meeting with the SEC."

"All day, all night." Sue added.

"Where were you?" Courfeyrac asked.

She looked at him, wide-eyed. "Back at the office. Waiting for his instructions."

"The dutiful work wife, right?" Courfeyrac walked away, knowing that they probably just found their killed, he went to go find Grantaire.

Courfeyrac found him, standing next to the snack table.

"I need to talk to you." Courfeyrac said, pulling Grantaire away from Alex. "I think, I found our killer.

"Who?" Grantaire asked.

Courfeyrac pointed in the direction of Sue. "Sue. The CFO."

Grantaire nodded. "Okay, we'll bring her in for questioning tomorrow. I'll contact CSU and tell them we need to sweep her apartment."

***

Enjolras found himself in the interrogation room with Courfeyrac, Sue sitting across from him. Grantaire was with CSU searching for the murder weapon. Courfeyrac, who was standing, threw a file on the table that Sue needed to sign.

"We need you to sign that release understanding your right in regard to questioning."

"My heart goes out to you, Sue. Being the other person can drive someone crazy." Enjolras said as he uncrossed his arms as he stood up.

Sue sighed. "I'm not the other person."

Enjolras sat down on the table. "Uh, did you break up with him?"

"It was mutual." Sue corrected.

Courfeyrac sat down. "Yeah, that's not my understanding. I talked to a Benjamin Jacobs at the party. He told me your relationship with Lucas abruptly ended after Lucas met Miranda. Said it got a little tense at the office."

Sue decided to sign the release. Enjolras saw that she wrote with her left hand, pointing it out to Courfeyrac.

"So, you're left handed." Enjolras observed.

Sue nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Sue, we know the killer had a left hand strong enough to cut that rip cord." Courfeyrac explained.

"We have CSU searching for the knife you used to cut the cord on the parachute. First, they're gonna search your office, then they're gonna search your apartment."

"And they're very good, our CSU team. They'll find it."

Enjolras moved from the table to a chair to sit back down. "Now, if you'll help us out, and you let us call off the scavenger hunt, we could put in a good word with the D.A."

Sue sighed. "He told me that he loved me. That what we had was special. Epic. That a love like ours only came along once in a lifetime. I believed him. Then, he met Miranda. And his head snapped in her direction and it never snapped back."

Enjolras shifted uncomfortably as he realized that the situation that Sue had been in paralleled his current one with Grantaire. Courfeyrac's quick glance at Enjolras told him that he could see the parallel too.

"And I should've fought for him then, but I was stunned. By the time I composed myself, they were married." Sue finished.

"So you killed her?" Enjolras asked her.

"Lucas is strong headed. He was never going to change his mind. I had to take action." Sue confessed.

Courfeyrac and Enjolras looked at each other. Enjolras made a gesture for Courfeyrac to arrest her. His friend stood up, taking his cuffs out of his pocket, all while gesturing Sue to stand up and to turn around.

"Sue David, you're under arrest for the murder of Miranda Hawkes."

All three left the interrogation. Courfeyrac handed Sue off to another officer to take her to holding. Enjolras made his way to his desk, Courfeyrac following after.

"So, um…her situation felt oddly familiar, didn't it?" Courfeyrac asked.

Enjolras turned his eyes toward Courfeyrac. "Yes, but I really don't want to talk about it."

"Alright."

***

Later that night, Enjolras contacted David, telling him that he needed to talk to him. David told him that he could come at any time. When Enjolras knocked on the door, David looked up when he saw him and he signaled Enjolras inside and to close the door.

"I'm here to talk about Grantaire." Enjolras admitted before sitting down.

David stood up and grabbed Enjolras' life. After sitting down, he opened the file. "Alright, let's talk. Start from the beginning. How did you two meet?"

"We met when we were freshmen in college. It was three months after Mathieu's death, so I was still in a very dark place." Enjolras started. "My friend, Courfeyrac, was hosting a roof top party, and I wasn't in a party mood. But that night, Grantaire walked into my life and for the first time in three months, I laughed. Over the course of the rest of our freshmen year, he become one of the most important people in my life. My best friend. My confidant. My rock." Enjolras smiled at the reminder. "When the one year anniversary of Mathieu's death came around, I wasn't leaving my room or my bed. At the time, I still felt like his death was my fault. Anyway, Grantaire came by since he hadn't seen or heard from me in a few days. He crawled in the bed to lay next to me, and I told him about Mathieu. It was the first that I had actually talked about Mathieu's death openly. My parents tried. Therapists tried. But I just wouldn't talk about it. Finally, with Grantaire, I did. I don't know why. If I had to guess it was because he hadn't known Mathieu.

"Anyway, after I told him about my brother that was when I realized that I felt something more than friendship for Grantaire. And I was terrified. I could lose Grantaire like I lost Mathieu, but I couldn’t stop myself from developing feelings for him. For 12 years, we have lived on this merry-go-round that never seems to stop. We would get close to taking the next step, but then I'd pull away from him or push him away. And then, a year ago, we finally brought Mathieu's killers to justice and Grantaire knew that I had been questioning if I had truly known my brother at all. After we arrested the guy behind it, Grantaire brought me a flash drive that he had found in Mathieu's things, and I watched it. It was a video. A video that finally allowed me to put my guilt and everything regarding Mathieu to bed. But it was also the night that the line that Grantaire and I had been toeing was crossed." Enjolras finished.

"Crossed by?" David pushed.

Enjolras looked at him. "We slept together, and it was perfect. That night remains to be the best night of my life. It was the night that I knew there was no denying it."

"Denying what?"

"That I was in love with him." Enjolras smiled. "I thought that I was ready to be with him the way that I wanted to be, but after we fell asleep, I woke up, and had a panic attack. I realized that no matter how badly I wanted to be with him, I wasn't ready to be. And I wouldn't be ready until the wall that was around my heart started to come down. He understood and was willing to patiently wait until I was ready."

"And in the year since, has anything happened? Has the wall budged?" David asked.

"We've gotten closer, and it had crumbled a little, but then Alex came back into his life." Enjolras told him. "And since then, I've seen him at work and he stops by to check on me every once in a while, but we haven't been joined at the hip, not like we used to. It doesn't take rocket science to know what has been keeping him distracted, and I know that it's my fault since I told him to get that closure. I just thought that he'd have it by now."

"Yes, I can understand where you would think that, but can I ask you something? What do you think that he's trying to tell you by acting like this?" David asked.

"That maybe he doesn't feel the way he used to about me. That he's not willing to wait anymore." Enjolras told him. "What if I waited too long?"

"You weren't waiting, Enjolras. You were healing. What you've been through in your life, no one should ever have to go through. That takes a long time to heal from." David told him.

"But in the meantime, he's moved on. With Alex, no less." Enjolras said.

David sighed. "Or he's doing exactly why you wanted him to do. Getting closure."

"And if he's not?" Enjolras asked. "What do I do?"

"Well, what do you want to do?"

Enjolras glanced at him. "I want to be with him. I want this wall to be broken completely, so that I can be. I love him."

David smiled. "Alright. That we can work on. In the meantime, go and tell him how you feel. Go and fight for him."

Enjolras stood up to leave the office. He ran to his apartment where Combeferre and Courfeyrac were watching a movie on the couch. He ran into his bedroom to quickly change before coming back out. Courfeyrac wolf whistled when he saw that Enjolras was dressed in his tightest skinny jeans, the shirt that he knew was Grantaire's favorite, his red Converse, and a black leather jacket.

"Where are you headed?" Combeferre asked.

Enjolras smiled at them before saying. "I'm going to find Grantaire. There's something I have to tell him."

"What?" Courfeyrac asked, but he realized that he was talking to a closed door.

Enjolras ran down the stairs to the street. He knew exactly where Grantaire more than likely was. The Corinthe was about a half a block from Enjolras' apartment. Enjolras walked to the bar with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He made it to the doorway, but when he was about to walk in, he saw Grantaire through the glass of the front window, sitting at a table with Alex sitting quite close to him. He had a big smile on his face as he leaned forward to kiss Alex. Enjolras felt his heart shatter into a million pieces with tears prickling in his eyes at the sight. He turned around to run back to his apartment.

When he got there, he opened the door and walked in, but couldn't lock it because the tears were blurring his vision. Enjolras turned around and slid down the door, he brought his legs to his chest and buried his head in his arms. Enjolras felt Combeferre and Courfeyrac hug him from his sides.

"Enj, what happened?" Courfeyrac asked him.

Enjolras looked at his friends and calmed down as much as he could. "I went to the  Corinthe because I knew that's where Grantaire would be. I had to tell him that I loved him, but when I got there, I saw him with Alex. He kissed him." A new batch of tears started to form as Courfeyrac took him into his arms.

"Shh, shh. It's okay." Courfeyrac whispered into his ear.

"I'm losing him." Enjolras cried into his shoulder. Courfeyrac looked at Combeferre with sad eyes. Combeferre stood up and went to Enjolras' bedroom to turn down the bed.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. If Grantaire can hurt you like this, he's not worth crying over." Courfeyrac said.

"But I love him." Enjolras cried.

Courfeyrac rubbed Enjolras' back to comfort him. "I know, Enj, I know. Hey, let's get you into bed and we'll have a cuddle pile. Just like we used to when we were kids."

Enjolras nodded into Courfeyrac's shoulder. They stood up to walk to his bedroom. He removed his jacket and shoes before climbing into his bed. Courfeyrac and Combeferre crawled in next to him. They comforted him as best they could as he cried himself to sleep for the first time since his brother died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you on Monday!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are enouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is long, but it's necessary that it is. So, enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything, but plot and spelling/grammar mistakes.

In the days following, Enjolras started avoiding Grantaire as best he could, but that was hard when they worked in the same place and had the same friends. He had also been cleared for full duty by his physical therapist and by David; Enjolras had also re-qualified for his gun. So, he and Grantaire were back to being partners, but the only thing that Enjolras would talk to Grantaire about was if it was about work, nothing else.

Grantaire asked Combeferre and Courfeyrac what the hell was wrong, but neither of them were willing to say a word.

Cosette and Marius had finally made their way to New York City from D.C. Enjolras was meeting them for dinner at Cosette's favorite NYC restaurant. They were also staying with him while Combeferre stayed with Courfeyrac for the weekend. So, after a long day's work, that's where Enjolras found himself.

He greeted them, but the moment Cosette saw him, she knew something was wrong.

"Enjy, what's wrong?" Cosette asked as she pulled away from their hug.

Enjolras shook his head. "Nothing. I'm fine. Let's eat."

They sat down. A few minutes after sitting down their waitress came to take their drink orders. After the waitress was gone, they looked at the menu and caught up with each other.

"So, how are you?" Cosette asked.

"I'm finally back on full force." Enjolras said, looked up from the menu.

Cosette nodded. "Did you tell Mom and Dad about getting shot?"

"No, and you're not going to either. Mom doesn't need to worry."

"Okay." Cosette promised. "How is 'Ferre, Courf, and R?"

"I really don't want to talk about Grantaire right now?" Enjolras said.

Cosette raised an eyebrow. "Enjy, what happened? He's your best friend."

Enjolras sighed. "Fine. The doctor that took care of me after I was shot, turned out to be Grantaire's ex from 13 years ago. He's spent the majority of his time with him since. A couple of days ago, I went to tell him that I love him, but instead I found him kissing his ex. I haven't been in the best of moods since."

Cosette looked at her brother. "Enjy, I'm sorry."

Enjolras shook his head. "It doesn't matter. It's not like I didn't know that it would happen when I kept pushing him away."

"You can't blame yourself."

"But I do. I waited too long."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't ready, 'Sette."

Cosette placed her hand over her brother's. "Enjy, if you love him, you need to tell him or you'll spend the rest of your life asking yourself why you never spoke up."

Enjolras nodded. "I know."

After their meal, they headed toward Enjolras' apartment. Cosette and Marius greeted Combeferre as he made his way out of the apartment. They immediately went to go set their stuff in the guest room after Combeferre left. Enjolras stayed in the kitchen, looking through the mail. Then, he looked through his phone, but saw no new messages, so he turned it to vibrate.

Cosette came back out to hug her brother before heading to bed.

"I'll see you in the morning, Enjy." Cosette told him.

Enjolras nodded. "Goodnight, 'Sette."

***

The next morning before Enjolras headed to the precinct, he had to head to his bank to take care of some things. When he arrived there, he saw that Alex was there as well, but instead of approaching him, Enjolras just ignored him and walked to the next window.

While he waited for the teller to finish processing one of the bills that he needed to pay, his phone started buzzing. He pulled it from his pocket and saw that it was Courfeyrac.

 _"Where are you?"_ Courfeyrac asked.

"I'm at the bank. I'll be at the precinct in about a half an hour." Enjolras told him. He glanced to the side, and saw a man and a woman dressed in scrubs, very anxious about the contents of their jackets. "Um…"

 _"What?"_ Courfeyrac asked.

"I think this bank is about to be robbed." Enjolras said.

 _"Why would you think that?"_ Courfeyrac asked.

"Because there are a man and a woman in here, very anxious about the contents of their jackets."

But before Courfeyrac could reply, one of the men pulled out a U-shaped bike lock to place over the door. Then, after the door was locked, he pulled out of a large gun from his jacket.

"Everybody get down on the floor! Now!" The man screamed.

Enjolras slowly hit the ground as another man appeared while the others continued to scream at the people in the bank to move.

 _"Enj, what's happening?"_ Courfeyrac asked over the phone. _"Where are you?"_

When Enjolras got the chance, he whispered into the phone. "I'm at the New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex."

***

At the precinct, Courfeyrac sat at his desk with his phone when he heard what Enjolras had just told him. Grantaire had a mug of coffee in his hands as he came out of the break room. He pulled the phone from his ear.

"Grantaire! There's a 10-30 New Amsterdam Bank and Trust on Lex." Courfeyrac called.

Grantaire finished taking a sip of his coffee. "10-30? Since when do we handle bank robberies?"

"Enjolras is in there."

Grantaire ran to where Courfeyrac was standing, taking the phone out of his hand. "Enjolras? Enjolras? Talk to me?"

***

At the bank, one of the robbers, whose "name" was Dr. Howser, was telling the people in the bank to slide up their phones and to get down on the ground. Enjolras slowly crawled behind one of the desk, staying on the phone. Alex had made his way towards Enjolras to see that he was on his phone. Enjolras put a finger to his lips to tell Alex to stay quiet.

"I'm hiding behind one of the desks with Alex, and I can see everything. They're wearing doctor scrubs. One of them is emptying the cash drawers." Enjolras explained.

Dr. Howser turned to the bank manager. "You, bank manager, over here.

"Another is going for the bank manager." Enjolras told Grantaire. He watched as Dr. Howser took the bank manager's key. "He's getting the manager's key, and going to the back of the bank."

***

Courfeyrac ran up to Grantaire. "We got squad cars en route."

"Good because it's not just Enjolras in there, Alex is too." Grantaire told Courfeyrac. He turned back to the phone. "'Jolras, how many are there?"

***

Enjolras looked around and counted. "There are three." A gun cocks behind Enjolras' head, and Alex gasped. "Make that four."

"So, you're the hero I'm going to make an example of." Trapper John said, taking Enjolras' phone out of his hand. "Sorry, your friend can't talk right now." He's about to hang up when he heard Grantaire's voice.

 _"I wouldn't worry about him, I'd worry about yourself. I've got squad cars on their way."_ Grantaire told him.

"You're a cop?" Trapper John said. "You called a cop?" He looked down at Enjolras.

"No, I – we were already on the line when you guys came in." Enjolras said.

 _"Listen to me. So far, nobody has been hurt and nothing had been stolen. So, if you just leave the same way you came in, you can just disappear."_ Grantaire told them.

The robber raised his eyebrow. "You gonna promise not to come look for me?"

 _"I don't look. I hunt. And trust me, you don't want that. So, leave now and this'll just be a quirky little article in the Metro station."_ Grantaire said.

"Sorry, buddy, I'd rather make the front page." And with that Trapper John dropped Enjolras' phone and stomped on it to shatter the screen.

***

All Grantaire heard was the dial tone. He didn't even have to look at Courfeyrac as he said. "Let's go."

And they were off to the bank that Enjolras was being held hostage in.

***

Trapper John led Enjolras and Alex to the rest of the group. He pushed them down to the ground, all while explaining to the other three robbers that the cops were going to be there sooner than they thought.

There was ongoing discussion between the four of them when the sirens could be heard.

"Cops! Alright, doctors! We're trained for this! You know what to do! It looks like we're all going to know each other a little better." John said.

Enjolras and Alex glanced at each other, but didn't say anything.

***

Outside, Grantaire arrived on the scene. He approached and entered the S.W.A.T. van, while Captain Peterson was yelling orders at the other in the van.

"I need S.W.A.T. analysis, SitRep, building blueprints. All in the next five minutes." Peterson ordered. He turned to Grantaire. "Who are you?"

"Detective Nicolas Grantaire. Homicide." Grantaire said, holding up his badge.

"I'll be sure to call if someone dies. Meanwhile, I need you to wait outside…" Peterson said.

Grantaire refused. "No, sir. My partner is in there."

"Wait, we got a cop in there?" Peterson asked.

Grantaire nodded. "Yes. He was on the phone with another cop on our team when they took over the bank. He said that there's four suspects in there. They're dressed up as doctors."

"Anything else you can tell me?" Peterson asked.

"Yeah, I spoke with one of them." Grantaire said.

Peterson nodded. "What was the demeanor?"

"Calm, actually. Very calm." Grantaire told him

"Thanks for the intel. We'll do everything we can to get your partner out safe." Peterson said.

"Okay. What's our next move?" Grantaire asked.

Peterson sighed. "Your next move is to leave my command post." Grantaire stayed where he stood. "You want to help your partner? Let me do my job." Grantaire still didn't leave. Peterson turned to his people. "Get a line to the bank. I want to talk to this guy."

"Yes, sir." One of the officers said.

"You missed your cue, Detective." Peterson said to Grantaire.

Grantaire rolled his eyes and left the S.W.A.T. van, extremely annoyed.

***

In the bank, John was aiming his gun at the hostages. "I'm going to make this real simple, alright. You move, you die. Got it?"

John turned his attention from the hostages and the doctors. Enjolras spoke up in a whisper.

"Is anyone hurt?" The hostages shook their heads. "Alright. Stay relaxed. Do as they say. We'll get through this. The cops will get us out."

***

Grantaire made his way to Courfeyrac, who was standing next to the yellow tape. When he saw Grantaire, he turned around.

"What did you find out?"

"That our services aren't needed. Courf, do you still have buddies in the ESU?" Grantaire asked.

"Of course."

"Good. I want to know what they know. And let's get ahold of Major Crimes. Find out if there's any other robberies with similar M.O.'s. The more we know about these guys, the more leverage we got."

Courfeyrac nodded, but before he left, he needed to ask. "Can I ask you a question? Which one are you more concerned about? Enjolras or Alex?"

Grantaire looked at him, taken aback. "Are you seriously asking me that?" Courfeyrac shrugged. "Yes, I'm worried about Alex. But I love Enjolras, Courf. Enjolras is my entire world…" Before he could say more, Grantaire's name was being called.

"Detective Grantaire! Peterson would like a word." One of the officers said.

Grantaire followed the officer into the S.W.A.T. van.

"Tell me, what were you thinking?" Peterson asked.

"I was trying to help out, sir."

"What? By charming the bank robber?"

Grantaire looked confused. "What?"

Peterson sighed. "We get him on the horn, but before I get two words out, he says and I quote, "I will only talk to the male cop." You want in? Well, you're in."

"No, sir I don't have any training in hostage negotiation."

"Well, I don't have time to give you a seminar, so think of it like this. You do the opposite of whatever your homicide training tells you, okay? So, don't yell, don't bully, and don't threaten them in anyway. It's all about keeping him calm, okay? Detective, you up for this?" Peterson asked.

Grantaire nodded, but was a little nervous. "Yes. Absolutely."

"Now, it's important to keep them talking. You gotta build rapport. As long as he's busy talking, he's not hurting hostages."

"Okay." Grantaire sat down.

Peterson nodded. "Okay?"

"Mm-hmm." Grantaire told him.

***

The phone rang from inside the bank, and John answered it.

"Who's this?"

 _"This is Detective Nicolas Grantaire. I understand that you wanted to speak with me_." Grantaire said over the phone.

"Yeah, I don't like that other guy." John said.

"Me neither." Grantaire said. In the S.W.A.T. van, he glanced at Peterson, who had raised eyebrows. He placed his hand over the mouthpiece. "You said to build a rapport." He removed his hand and said. " _So, what's your name?"_

"You can call me Trapper John." John said.

 _"A M*A*S*H fan. It's nice. So, how you doing? Anything I can do to help?"_ Grantaire asked.

John sighed. "Oh, Nicolas, Nicolas, Nicolas. You're running that idiot's playbook, aren't you? What did Captain Confidence, tell you? Keep me calm. Build a rapport. Extract information. Here's how it's going to work. You lie to me, I kill hostages. You jerk me around, I kill hostages. If you storm the bank, I kill hostages. And Nicolas…." He knelt down and rested his arm on Enjolras' shoulder with the gun in his hand. "I'll start with your boyfriend." And with that he hung up.

***

When the line went dead, Grantaire looked at Peterson, who was pacing around.

"Well, we learned one thing."

"What's that?"

"He's not a punk who just woke up and decided to rob a bank. He knows what he's doing. He knows our playbook. This guy's a pro. S.W.A.T tap into the cameras at the bank, yet?"

"Still working on it, sir. Also, there's a Susan Craig from the bank's green branch on line four." An officer in the van said.

Grantaire stood up, impatient. "What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing."

"I'm sorry?"

"It's not a homicide, Detective. It's not all about moving forward or digging for the next clue. Here, sometimes no move is the best move. Let Trapper John think about things, and then we'll call him back." Peterson explained.

Grantaire sighed in frustration before sitting back down. His nerves on edge.

***

Enjolras sat in the circle of hostages, while watching the robbers, surreptitiously. Some of the hostages were glaring at him.

"This is your fault, you know. He called the cops. I saw him. If it wasn't for this guy, the bank robbers would've come and gone. We'd all be out of here." A hostage named, Sal, said

"No. No, the cops were coming anyway. The bank robbers, they screwed up. They pulled the bottoms bills from the cash drawer." A pregnant hostage and bank worker named, Simone, said.

The bank manager, Mr. Davenport, added. "Which automatically triggers the silent alarm, okay? No one's fault."

Enjolras glared back at Sal. Alex turned to Simone.

"Simone, how far along are you?" Alex asked.

"32 weeks." Simone said.

A female hostage spoke up. "Holding a pregnant woman hostage? They should let you go."

"Lady, they're not letting her go. They're not letting any of us go. I've seen this movie before. I know how it ends. All of us dead." A male hostage said to which all the other hostages gasp.

"We're not going to die. We're going to be fine. I'm a police detective and my partner is going to get us out." Enjolras explained to them.

"It would be much easier if you had your gun." Alex muttered.

Enjolras snapped his head to Alex. "They would have taken it as the first chance they got, and I would probably already be dead. But you would like that, wouldn't you? Get Grantaire all to yourself. Well, guess what, I don't give up that easy."

Alex turned his head away from the cold glare of Enjolras' eyes.

John came back from behind the security bars. "Dr. Huxtable."

Dr. Huxtable tossed keys to Trapper John, who goes back through security bars.

"Mr. Davenport, what's behind those doors back there?" Enjolras asked.

Mr. Davenport thought about it. "Restroom, break room, security room, and the safe deposit boxes."

"They took a key from around your neck. What does it open?" Enjolras asked.

"It's my security key for the safe deposit boxes." Davenport explained.

Enjolras glanced around the bank. "Something is going on here. Why does he keep going back there when there's a vault full of cash up here that's untouched?"

"Please, curiosity killed the cat." Alex said.

Enjolras ignored the comment. "Something weird is going on here, and I'm going to figure out what it is. I know exactly what to do." He stood up to get Dr. Howser's attention. "Uh, Mr. Howser – Excuse me, Dr. Howser."

"You got a death wish?" Dr. Howser asked.

"No, just a small bladder. And, uh, unfortunately it looks like we're going to be here for a while, so unless you'd like it messy, now might be a good time to start arranging some restroom runs." Enjolras said.

Dr. Howser looked at the female robber codenamed Dr. Quinn, who nodded. Dr. Howser escorted Enjolras behind the security bars to the restroom. Enjolras saw Trapper John open one of safe deposit boxes.

"So, why Doogie Howser? I mean there's so many cool TV doctors you could pick from." Enjolras said to Dr. Howser. He noticed Trapper John remove photos from the safe deposit box. "Dr. House, Dr. Shepard, Dr. Phil…"

"Shut up." Dr. Howser said.

They made it to the bathroom, so Dr. Howser pushed Enjolras inside of the room until he was with his business.

***

Outside, Grantaire stood next to the caution tape when Courfeyrac approached him. Just from the look on his face, the nerves in Grantaire's stomach tightened.

"Anything?" Grantaire asked.

"All bad news. ESU can't get eyes or ears inside. Bank cameras are disabled and the walls are too thick to drill from outside." Courfeyrac explained.

"So, what if ESU storms the bank?" Grantaire asked.

"They'll be going in blind."

"And, in your experience, in this scenario, what are the hostages' chances of survival?" Grantaire asked.

Courfeyrac looked at the bank and back at Grantaire. When he didn't say anything, Grantaire knew the answer was not good.

***

Back in the bank, Alex waited nervously with the other hostages for Enjolras to return. A few minutes after he left, Enjolras came back. He sat back down in the circle.

Dr. Howser looked around the group. "Alright, who else?"

"I'll go." Sal said.

After they were gone, the other hostages all looked to Enjolras, impatiently.

"Did you learn anything?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I was right. Something odd is going on. I saw Trapper John in the safe deposit room. He pulled out a box and he was removing letters and photos. And he didn't break in, either, he used both keys." Enjolras told him.

"Well, one's my manager's key, the other one must be the owner's key." Davenport said.

"This is a very strange time for Trapper John to get something from his safe deposit box." Alex said.

Enjolras sighed. "I'm assuming the box isn't his. These guys set off the alarm on purpose. They wanted this hostage standoff. I mean, come on look at them. They're professionals, right? They know better than to take the bottom bills from the cash drawer."

"But why?" Davenport said.

"Time." Enjolras told them. "Safe deposit box keys don't have numbers on them, so if it's not his key, he'd have to try every lock until he got to the right box and that would take time." Enjolras turned to the manager. "The box he pulled was on the north wall. It was the four columns over, three boxes down."

"That would be…box…120." Davenport said, having to think about it.

"Okay. We figure out whose box that is, we can figure out what these people are really up to." Enjolras said.

"Well, I don’t think they're going to let us use the computer." Alex said, sarcastically.

"Or maybe we won't have to. Simone, can I borrow your bracelet?" Enjolras said

Simone surrendered the bracelet with no protest.

***

In the van, Grantaire was sitting, tapping his fingers on the desk when the phone rang again. An officer answered it.

"Captain, it's him." The officer said.

Peterson turned to Grantaire. "Remember the strategy."

Grantaire nodded before he put on the earpiece. "Hey, how's it going?"

 _"So far so good."_ John said.

"Yeah? And how are the hostages? Pretty concerned about the pregnant bank teller, Simone. It's kind of a stressful situation, might want to get her out of there." Grantaire told him.

 _"No, no, no, Nic. You gotta give before you can receive."_ John said.

"Okay, what would you like?" Grantaire asked.

 _"A bus with tinted windows. It'll take me, my partners, and my hostages to Teterboro Airport. There you're going to have a plane waiting to take us to the foreign country of my choosing. Now, you do that, I give you the knocked up bank teller. Once we land in paradise, I'll release the rest of the hostages. And Nic, you got three hours."_ He hung up.

Peterson turned to an officer. "Find me a bus with tinted windows and get it over here."

"Wait a minute, you're actually giving him what he wants?" Grantaire asked

"Of course not. The only way that guy's leaving that building is either in handcuffs or a body bag. But if it comes to it, I can use that bus to lure the robbers out, have a sniper take them out." Peterson replied.

"What the...? You see that?" The officer, watching the outdoor camera video feed, said

Grantaire looked at the screen. A light was flashing irregularly on the ceiling of the entrance that overhung where the S.W.A.T. team was positioned.

"That's Morse Code." Grantaire told them.

***

Inside, Enjolras was using Simone's bracelet to reflect light off of it. Covering it up in intervals with his hand. Simone was playing look out.

"Stop." She said. Dr. Quinn looked over at the hostages, then looked away. "Clear."

Enjolras started to signal again.

***

In the van, Grantaire was writing the message down on a pad of paper. The others surrounding him were trying to figure out what it meant.

"Uh, SBD120 over and over again. What do you think it means?"

"Someone's initials or a code. Same…day…bank." Peterson said.

"Save…"

"Day…save."

"Wait, wait, uh, could be, uh, safe. Safe? SDB. Safe Deposit Bo – Safe deposit box 120. That's it." Grantaire exclaimed.

"What would a safe deposit box have to do with anything?" Peterson asked.

"I don't know, but if Enjolras went to the trouble of sending that message, it means something." Grantaire said.

"How do you know it's him?" Peterson asked.

"Trust me, it's him." Grantaire said with a smile.

Their attention was taken from the video to the officer who had been looking up whose safe deposit box 120 was. He had just found out who it belonged to.

"Safe deposit box number 1-2-0 belongs to a married couple Agnes and Gideon Fields."

"Anything special about the box?" Peterson asked.

"No, just that bank records show they both access it monthly." The officer explained.

"I'll have my team look into it." Grantaire left the van to tell Courfeyrac to investigate the box with the help of Detective Cassie, a detective that they worked with every once in a while.

***

Enjolras continued to reflect the light off of Simone's bracelet and covering it up in intervals with his hand. Dr. Quinn continued to watch them. Enjolras stopped when Sal came back.

"Hey, when I was coming back, I—I got a glimpse inside their—their duffle bag. There were white bricks with wires and timers attached to it. I—I think it could be C4." Sal explained.

"C4? Are you sure?" Alex said.

"Yeah. They're going to blow us all up." Sal said.

Enjolras moved to be sitting in front of Sal. "Calm down. Just calm down.

"How am I supposed to calm down? I've got a family to think about." Sal said.

"We all have families. Now, calm down." Simone said.

"What's your name?" Enjolras asked.

"Sal. Sal Martino."

"Okay, you got a wife, Sal? Kids?" Enjolras asked, trying to calm him down.

Sal nodded. "Yeah, I have a son."

"Okay. What's his name?"

"Connor."

"I bet the only thing you can think about is seeing him again, am I right?" Enjolras said.

"You have no idea."

Enjolras nodded. "Good. So, you just keep thinking on that. You think about how you're going to see Connor again real soon because I'm going to figure out a way to get us all out of here. I promise."

"I need some air. Damn, why is there no air in this place?" Sal asked.

"What the hell is going on in here? I thought this was about a safe deposit box. Why would they need C4?" Enjolras asked out loud.

"Maybe they don’t want anyone to know what they stole from that box and the C4 is to make sure that no one ever does." Simone said.

***

Grantaire was waiting outside the van for another call from John. His nerves on edge and his stomach sick with worry for the love of his life. His phone started buzzing in his pocket. He took it out and saw that it was Courfeyrac.

"Courf, talk to me."

 _"Cassie and I just breached the Fields' apartment. But it looks like the owner of our safety deposit box has been dead maybe a week. Ligature mark on her neck indicate strangulation."_ Courfeyrac explained.

"What'd you find at the crime scene?"

_"Place is trashed. Killer was looking for something. There's a broken key chain on the body, but there's no key."_

"Okay, that might've been where she kept the key for the safe deposit box."

_"I don't get it. This is a little, old, retired librarian. What could possibly be in her safe deposit box that would be worth doing all this?"_

"It had to be something big worth killing her over, right?" Grantaire asked.

 _"Whoa, check this out."_ Courfeyrac said.

"What is it?"

 _"It's a bug. It's not from a spy shop either, this looks professional."_ Courfeyrac explained.

"Alright, dig up everything you can on Agnes Fields."

_"On it."_

With that the two friends hang up, Grantaire put his phone back in his pocket. He went back to staring at the bank. All of sudden he heard shouting. Grantaire turned and saw Cosette and Marius. He walked to them.

Cosette looked worried and started talking a million miles a minute. "He's here, isn't it? My brother is in that bank. I know that he was coming here. He left a note."

"Cosette…" Grantaire told her.

"And he's not answering his phone." Cosette said.

"Listen to me." Grantaire said, gripping her shoulders.

"And you're here!"

"Listen, listen. Everything is going to be fine, okay? But he is inside that bank." Grantaire told his love's sister. "But I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure that you don't lose another brother."

Cosette nodded as she buried her face in Marius' chest.

***

Inside the bank, Enjolras was trying to figure out a way to get to the windows in order to get a message to Grantaire about the C4. He looked over at Simone before standing up and walking over to Dr. Quinn.

"Uh, Dr. Quinn."

Dr. Quinn cocked her gun. "What's your problem?"

"It's just, where I come from, Dr. Quinn, we don't make pregnant women sit on hard floors. Is it alright if I get some cushions from the sofa for here?" Enjolras said.

"Make it fast, pretty boy." Dr. Quinn told him

"Thanks."

Enjolras walked toward the windows, putting a hand in his jacket.

"Stop! Right there! Stop or I'm going to shoot!" Dr. Quinn said, pointing her gun at Enjolras.

Enjolras turned around. Sal stood up, walking toward Enjolras. His mouth was foaming.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!"

Sal took his coat off. When Enjolras tried to help him, Sal fell down and started to convulse as the robbers yell and aim their guns at them.

"Don't shoot. He's having a seizure. Sal! Easy." Enjolras said. Sal eased. Enjolras looked down and saw a bracelet on his wrist. "Great. Epilepsy. This guy needs help."

"Then, help him." Dr. Quinn told him.

"Hey, look, Dr. Quinn, the man just had a grand mal seizure. So, unless you really are a medicine woman, he needs a hospital now!" Enjolras told her.

Dr. Quinn turned to face Dr. Howser. "Get Trapper John. Move!"

"Perfect. A fake doctor calls in another fake doctor for a consult." Enjolras muttered.

***

Grantaire answered the phone call. "Grantaire."

" _Look, Nic, one of the hostages had an epileptic fit and passed out. Normally, I wouldn't care, but it's starting to upset the other hostages and I don't want anyone trying to be a hero. So, here's the deal. You're gonna send in one paramedic to get him, and in exchange for this generosity you're gonna have my bus right outside in 20."_ John told him.

Grantaire looked at Peterson, who shook his head. "That's not enough time."

 _"But it is for me. Take this guy now, and get my bus outside in 20 or I'll start popping hostages."_ John told him, and then hung up.

"How soon until we get that bus?" Grantaire asked.

"35 minutes."

"You're going to have to ask for more time." Peterson said.

"He's not going to go for it." Grantaire replied.

"Then, we're going to storm the bank."

Grantaire sighed. "We can't storm the bank. We don't know where anybody is in there. If we go in there, hostages are just going to get killed."

"Listen, if we're going to save any of them, we have no other choice."

"Maybe we do. We could use this sick hostage to our advantage. Instead of sending in a paramedic, we send in a cop with tactical training. That cop can get intel for when S.W.A.T. goes in to breach the bank." Grantaire told him.

"I'm guessing you have a cop in mind." Peterson said.

***

Grantaire went in to the bank with a stretcher, dressed as a paramedic. Enjolras watched him walk in, but then did a double take to make sure that it was Grantaire.

"Search him." John said.

They pat Grantaire down while Enjolras grabbed a paper and a pen.

"He's clear." Dr. Quinn said.

"Make it quick." John said.

Enjolras wrote a note against his leg hiding it with his jacket. He wrote "C4" on the note. Grantaire knelt down by Sal.

"How's he doing?" Grantaire asked.

"Not good. His name is Sal Martino, he has epilepsy. I think the seizure was brought on by stress." Enjolras told him as he folded the note and placed it in his hand.

"Hey, Sal. Hey, buddy. How are you doing? Sal, listen to me. I want you to know that there are people out there that care about you, so just keep breathing." Grantaire said as he grasped Enjolras' hand that was resting on Sal's chest.

"I promise you I'm going to get you out of here." Grantaire told him before glancing at Enjolras.

Dr. Huxtable sighed. "Hey, don't talk about it. Be about it. And you, help get him on that gurney."

"Sal, you ready? We're going to get you up on the count of three. One, two, three." Enjolras had Grantaire's help getting him on the stretcher causing Sal to moan in pain. "Easy, buddy. Easy, buddy. Alright."

Grantaire buckled him in before taking the note from Enjolras' hand. He glanced at the love of his life one last time before leaving.

After he left, the paramedics came to grab Sal to take him to the ambulance. Cosette and Marius were waiting for Grantaire next to the caution tape.

"Your brother is okay." Grantaire read the note. "Oh, God."

"What’s wrong?" Cosette asked.

"Marius, take Cosette behind the caution tape now." Grantaire told him before walking toward the van, ignoring Cosette's call to tell her what was wrong. He then walked into the van to tell Peterson about the C4.

"There's C4 in the bank?" Peterson asked.

"I didn't see any, but if Enjolras said that it's in there, it's in there." Grantaire told him.

"That means a breach is out of the question. I'm not going to send my boys into a bomb fight. We're going to have to take these guys out on the bus." Peterson said.

Grantaire sighed. "That bus is still 20 minutes out. His deadline's in five. He's going to start killing hostages."

Peterson told him. "We have to buy more time."

***

Enjolras was back sitting with the other hostages in the circle. His back up against one of the pillars. The other hostages had all grown even more worried as it seemed like the robbers were getting more and more on edge. Then, all of sudden the phone rang.

"Where's my bus?" John demanded when he answered.

 _"The bus is on its way. It'll be there in 20 minutes."_ Grantaire told him.

John sighed, heavily. "The hostages will be dead in two."

 _"No. Nobody needs to die, okay. It's coming. It's just – it's stuck in traffic."_ Grantaire tried to explain.

"We had a deal, Nic. I said I wouldn't kill anyone, you said you'd give me a bus. I lived up to my end of deal."

 _"And I'm going to live up to mine. I just…"_ Grantaire said.

"I warned you not to jerk me around. Now, I was clear about the consequences. Do I have to prove how serious I am? Is that it?" John said.

 _"Okay, I-I think we both just need to take a deep breath and we can talk about it_." Grantaire tried to calm him down.

"I'm done talking!" John told him. He pointed the gun toward Enjolras and fired. But the bullet hit a computer that was on the desk behind Enjolras. The screen sparked.

_"What was that?"_

"A warning shot, Nic. The next one's for the kill!" John told him. He crouched down and held the gun to Enjolras' throat. "I'm going to make pretty red stains out of your boyfriend, Nic. I got my gun to his throat and I'm going to paint a Jackson Pollack with his insides!"

 _"Listen to me, jackass, I do not control traffic, so you're going to have to give me twenty minutes_." Grantaire said.

"Now, you got one minute, Nic!" John said.

 _"No! I've got twenty! Do you hear me? Twenty! Because if you pull that trigger, I will walk through those doors and personally put a bullet through your skull."_ Grantaire said, through gritted teeth.

There's a tense pause where everyone in the bank, including Enjolras, who said a quick _I love you, Grantaire_ in his head, thought that Trapper John was going to pull the trigger.

"Okay, Nic. You got twenty more minutes." John said before he hung up. He turned to Enjolras. "Your boyfriend sure knows how to negotiate."

"He's not my boyfriend." Enjolras said.

"He too much man for you?" John said causing Alex to chuckle.

"So, why are guys robbing this bank?" Enjolras asked.

"Sutton's Law. When asked why he robbed banks, Willis Sutton famously replied, "Because that's where the money is." John said.

Dr. Huxtable's cell phone rang, he nodded to Trapper John, and left to take the call.

"Except Willie Sutton never said that. It was a reporter who made up that quote." Enjolras told him. "And the story I see you spinning is that it's really not about stealing money."

"You don't say." John said.

"You and your crew don't wear gloves. Obviously you're not worried about fingerprints, which means you're not in the system. And those accents, your marks, which means you're too smart to get on that bus. So, what was in that box, why the C4, and what are you really going to do with us?" Enjolras asked.

John chuckled. "Oh, I like you. That's why I'm killing you last."

"Trapper John." Huxtable returned and held up his phone. "We’re good to go."

"Alright, everybody on your feet. Let's go! Up, up, up, up!" John said.

"What are you going to do?" Enjolras asked.

"You're cleaver. I'm sure you'll figure it out." John.

The robbers zip tied the hostages' hand together before they were all moved to the back of the bank.

***

In the van, Grantaire set the phone down. Still reeling from the anger at Trapper John for almost murdering the love of his life. He turned around to face Peterson.

"That was one way to negotiate." Peterson said, but Grantaire only shrugged. He turned towards the officer. "We still got 18 minutes, I want everybody in position. S.W.A.T. can rendezvous with the bus here on 49th; they can load there. I want snipers here, here, and here. Get Roman on the horn." Peterson pointing at a map to his officers.

"Why didn't he ask me for something?" Grantaire said.

"What?" Peterson asked.

"Sir, he gave me twenty minutes and he didn't ask for anything in return. If he wanted to maintain control, he would've asked for something. I mean, this is all way too easy." Grantaire told him.

"Take the win, Detective."

"No, sir, something is going on. We're just not asking the right questions. I mean, why would he bring C4 to a bank robbery?" Grantaire asked.

But before Peterson could get an answer, there was an explosion that rocked the van. Grantaire ran outside only to see a cloud of smoke coming from inside the building. Grantaire felt his heart stop.

***

S.W.A.T. entered the building, led by Grantaire, who had his own gun in his hand. They searched the ruined bank. Grantaire's eyes desperately searching for any sign of blonde curls.

"Enjolras! Enjolras! Enjolras!" Grantaire screamed.

"Grantaire?" Enjolras called back.

Grantaire moved about the building before making his way toward the back. He found the hostages sitting behind a gate in the safe deposit box room. Enjolras smiled and waved a hand.

"They're here!" Grantaire called before running to the gate and yanking it open.

"I told you." Enjolras laughed. Grantaire knelt down in front of Enjolras and smiled at him as he pulled out a knife to cut his binds.

"Here we go. Ready?" Grantaire said before cutting the ties. "How are you?"

Grantaire stroked Enjolras' cheek, his smile staying on his face. Alex was sitting a couple of people away from them and saw the connection between them and couldn't help, but say.

"He's not the only one here, you know."

It broke the connection between them. Enjolras rolled his eyes, before gesturing for Grantaire to go to Alex.

***

The police and S.W.A.T. escorted the hostages outside of the bank. Alex had a tight grip on Grantaire, but when he saw Enjolras head in the direction of Peterson, he had to follow.

"Alex, let me go." Grantaire told him.

"But I don't want to." Alex whined. "I was scared.

"I understand that, but I'm also in the middle of solving a crime, so you need to let me go." Grantaire pulled himself away from Alex before walking to Enjolras, Peterson, and another elderly man.

"Everybody accounted for?" Peterson asked.

"We're all here, we're all okay." Davenport said.

When Grantaire didn't see anyone in handcuffs, he looked at Peterson confused. "Sir, what happened to the robbers?"

"They're dead. They blew themselves up."

"What?" Enjolras asked.

"Apparently the C4 was part of the exit strategy. There was a hole blasted straight through the bottom of the vault and opened up the ceiling on an abandoned subway station below. Smart plan if they didn't screw it up. They've must've triggered the explosion before they took cover and they killed themselves." Peterson explained.

"It's not possible. C4, it's a very stable explosive. It wouldn't go off accidentally, and these guys were not dime store bandits. They were trained. They were military precision. They – they wouldn't set off an explosion prematurely." Enjolras said.

"Really? I got an assortment of body parts that tells me they did." Peterson said before walking away.

Enjolras and Grantaire looked at each other, confused. But the confusion didn't last long because then they heard.

"Enjolras!" Cosette called.

Enjolras turned. "Cosette."

She threw her arms around her brother while Grantaire went to go help Davenport get Simone from the rubble. Ignoring that Alex was patiently waiting for him.

When Cosette and Enjolras pulled away from their hug, Enjolras' eyes found Grantaire. Cosette followed his gaze.

"Did you talk to him?" Cosette asked.

"No, after he rescued us, Alex kind of took him from me. I haven't had a chance to talk to him." Enjolras told her.

Cosette glanced over Enjolras' shoulder to see that Grantaire was alone. "Well, now would be as good a time as any."

Enjolras turned his head, nodding. He walked to where Grantaire was standing. "Hey."

"Hey. How are you?"

"I'm fine. Just glad that it's over."

"Me too."

Enjolras sighed. "Look, Grantaire…um…I know that…I know that now is probably not the best time, but…um…" He took a deep breath. "I just…I needed you to know that I think the wall is coming down. And I'm not sure what's going on with you and Alex after what I saw at the Musain the other night with the kiss, but I just thought that you should know, just in case." Enjolras stopped. He avoided Grantaire's eyes when he turned to walk away.

"Whoa, whoa, hey." Grantaire said, grabbing his love's elbow. Enjolras turned back to face him, pure vulnerability in his eyes. "You were there?"

Enjolras nodded. "I was there because I had to tell you something." He looked at Grantaire, who waited patiently to hear it. "I love you. I've always loved you, but it's too late. It's clearly too late. I knew that after seeing that kiss."

Grantaire sighed. "'Jolras, listen to me. That kiss meant nothing to me. Nothing. I kissed him to see if there was anything there, but there's not. Anything that's there is on his side, not mine. I got the closure with him that I needed. I only love one person and that person is standing right in front of me. While you were in that bank, I may have looked calm, cool, collected on the outside, but on the inside I was going crazy. If you didn't make it out of there, I don't know what I would have done." Enjolras felt a tear run down his cheek, and Grantaire wiped it away. "Just like how you can't live without me, I can't live without you."

"But the Dylan Club? And every other time that you weren't at work or home, I thought that you were with him."

"I'll admit that I did spend time with Alex after you told me to get the closure, but after that night at the Musain, I ignored most of his calls and texts, and stayed at home. Giving you the space you, obviously, needed. I knew that something had happened, but I wasn't sure what, now I know. As for the Dylan Club, I told you, he found out where I was going and begged me to bring him along." Grantaire explained. "Enjolras, if I hurt you in anyway, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. But when I say this. I say it with utmost sincerity, I love you. _I love you._ "

Enjolras smiled, and Grantaire returned it. He pressed his lips against Enjolras' in a passionate kiss. Enjolras kissed him back, his hands found their way around his waist. When they pulled away for air, Enjolras pressed his forehead against Grantaire's.

"Does this mean that we're boyfriends, now?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras smiled again. "Um…yes, but I'll still need you to be patient with me. The wall is coming down, but it's not fully down, yet."

"As long as it's coming down, that is good enough for me." Grantaire told him before kissing him again.

They pulled away when they heard someone clear their throat. Enjolras blushed bright red when he saw Courfeyrac and Cassie standing there. Right, there was just a robbery that needed attending to. Kissing Grantaire can wait.

"Finally!" Courfeyrac said before walking to them.

"Shut up." Enjolras said, lacing his hand with Grantaire's.

"Did you find anything on Agnes?" Grantaire asked, frantic to change the subject.

"We've gone over phone records and financials and talked to friends and neighbors, nothing sticks out." Courfeyrac said.

"What about, um, Agnes' safety deposit box. Somebody was pretending to be her dead husband and accessed it monthly. Any leads?" Grantaire asked.

"There was a son-in-law, Ron Brandt. We left a message, but haven't heard anything back. This is a picture of him." Cassie handed the photo to Grantaire. Enjolras looked over at the photo. It was Sal in the photo.

"Wait, that's – that's the son-in-law?" Enjolras asked.

"Yeah, why?" Courfeyrac asked.

"This was one of the hostages. He was having a seizure and…oh, no." Grantaire said. He grabbed his phone, dialed a number, and held it up to his ear. "This is Detective Nicolas Grantaire, NYPD. I'm checking on a patient that came in from a bank robbery. His name is Sal Martino." Grantaire listened to the person on the other side. "What? He did?" He hung up at the phone. Grantaire put his phone in his pocket before looking at his boyfriend, Courfeyrac, and Cassie. "He checked himself out against medical advice. He's gone. It was him. He orchestrated this whole thing."

The other three had shocked looks on their faces. Enjolras was the first to shake himself out of it.

"Alright, we need to head to the precinct. Dig up all that we can on Ron Brandt." Enjolras said.

He, Courfeyrac, and Cassie all started to walk towards the squad cars. Grantaire stayed standing, his eyes searching the crowd for Alex. Enjolras realized that he wasn't following.

"Hey, 'Taire, you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll be there soon." Grantaire walked to him. "Not to bring him up, love, but I do need to go see Alex. Just make sure that he's alright."

"Alright, while hurry to the precinct after you've taken care of that."

"Of course." Grantaire said, kissing his boyfriend again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: You know the drill.

After leaving the bank robbery sight, Grantaire headed to Alex's home. He had asked another officer where he'd gone. Apparently, he caught a ride home with another officer. When Grantaire arrived, he knocked on the door.

Alex opened the door with a smile. "I knew you would come to check up on me." He stepped forward to kiss Grantaire, but he stepped away, so his lips landed on his cheek. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just here to make sure that you're okay."

"I'm fine. Although, I swear your partner could have done more to get us out of there." Alex complained with his arms crossed.

Grantaire rolled his eyes. "Hey, Enjolras, did everything that he could. You do realize that if it wasn't for him having been on the phone with Courf when they took over, you'd probably still be in there and we'd be trying to figure out how to get to out. Not to mention that it was safer for him to not have his badge or gun. So, instead of criticizing him, how about you thank him that he helped in getting you out of there alive?"

"Wow! I can't believe that you're defending him."

"Of course, I'm defending him. He's my partner. Not to mention the love of my life!" Grantaire said. Alex looked at him like he had been slapped. "That's right, I said what I said, and I won't stand here, hearing you say those things about him."

"But, R, what about me?" Alex asked.

"What about you?" Grantaire asked him with his arms crossed.

"I love you. I thought that you loved me, too."

Grantaire scoffed. "Need I remind you that you left me 13 years ago? Not the other way around. The only reason that I've been around these last few weeks was to get the closure that I needed, and now I have it. I'm here to say goodbye."

"But, R, you can't just leave me."

Grantaire rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Why not? You left me first, Alex. So, I can do whatever the hell that I want now." He walked to the door and opened it. "Goodbye, Alex."

He left his ex-boyfriend's apartment. When the door was shut, Grantaire felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. From the apartment, he headed to the precinct to finish solving the case.

***

At the precinct, Courfeyrac was standing in front of Enjolras' desk, giving him information about Ron Brandt. Enjolras was sitting at his desk.

"It turns out Ron Brandt runs a company that supplies military contracts to a special operational forces from around the world." Courfeyrac explained.

"Okay, so he uses his military connections to hire that team of mercenaries in the bank, and then to avoid loose ends, he rigged the C4 to blow early." Enjolras commented.

"Talk about cold blooded." Courfeyrac said, sarcastically.

"And he did all of this just for the contents of Agnes' safe deposit box?" Grantaire asked as he walked up to his desk. Enjolras smiled at him as he sat down next to him. "'Jolras, you said that there was photos and letters in there, right?"

"Yeah. Trapper John must've given them to Ron when he was being escorted back from the restroom because right after that, he faked a seizure and was let go." Enjolras explained.

"But why? I mean, what was so special about his former mother-in-law's safe deposit box?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Former?" Enjolras asked.

Courfeyrac nodded. "Ron was married to Agnes' daughter, Tanya. Both her and her son, Connor, were killed in a boating accident about a year ago."

"No, no. Ron spoke about Connor and he did not speak about him like he was dead. Connor is still alive." Enjolras said.

"I don't know what to tell you, Enj. It says right here, Connor's dead." Courfeyrac said, showing his friend the file.

Cassie approached them with a folder in her hand. "I wouldn't be so sure about that. Turns out that neither his wife nor Connor's body was ever recovered."

"Why would the wife fake their deaths?" Grantaire asked.

"Domestic abuse." Cassie turned the file to face the detectives. There were pictures of Tanya with bruises all over her face. "However, Ron had the connections and the wealth to avoid persecution."

"So, the system failed her. She and Connor couldn't escape Ron's abuse, so she faked their deaths and disappeared." Grantaire said.

"But to disappear, she had to walk away from her former life." Enjolras said.

"Sever ties with everything and everyone she ever knew." Grantaire told them.

Enjolras turned to Grantaire. "Except she couldn't, especially with her mom, Agnes."

"Which is what the safety deposit box was for. It's a means of communication. It's like a Cold War drop box in some John le Carré novel. Only, Tanya wouldn't be able to risk making the drops. So, who would make the drops for her?" Grantaire said.

"Our mystery man who was posing as Agnes' dead husband. He was Tanya's middleman." Courfeyrac figured out.

"So, Tanya sends the photos and the letters to the middleman. The middleman puts them in the safety deposit box for Agnes. The box serves as a mailbox." Enjolras said.

"Only it's better because it's locked up inside a bank." Grantaire reminded them.

Courfeyrac watched his friends. "Ron must've suspected that they faked their deaths and that's when he bugged Agnes' home."

"And when Ron found out about the box, he killed Agnes for the key." Cassie said.

"And with the clock ticking, he hired that crew to stage the bank robbery to get to the box with the key." Grantaire said.

Enjolras sighed. "You know, those photos and letters will say exactly where his wife and son are hiding. He's on his way there now, and we know what he's going to do once he gets there."

"He's going to kidnap his son and kill his wife." Grantaire told him. He stood up. "Identifying the middleman is the only way we're going to be able to find Tanya and Connor. So, what do we know? He passed for Agnes' late husband."

Grantaire wrote "White male. 60's." on the murder board. Cassie had gone to find anything about who Tanya and Agnes would use as their middleman.

"And it'd have to be someone that Ron wouldn't suspect." Enjolras pointed out.

"That rules out friends, neighbors, and co-workers." Courfeyrac said.

Enjolras nodded. "But it was probably a person that they trusted."

Grantaire wrote "Trustworthy" on the murder board as well. Then, he turned toward his boyfriend and Courfeyrac.

"Middleman could've been paid. Maybe we can track their payments." Courfeyrac said.

"They were probably smart enough to pay in cash, which is untraceable." Enjolras said.

Cassie came walking in at that moment. She had a file in her hand. "Unless, if paying by check wouldn't've thrown up any red flags. At the time of Connor and Tanya's supposed deaths, she was making monthly tithe checks to Saint Abigail's Church."

"And who better fits this profile than a priest?" Grantaire asked.

"And I know which one we should speak to first. The priest who officiated their funeral." Cassie pulled out a program for the church. "Father Sean McCaskey."

***

Enjolras and Grantaire left the precinct within seconds of Cassie's reveal. They drove down to St. Abigail's Church. When they arrived, they asked to speak to Father McCaskey and led to his office.

"Father McCaskey, I'm Detective Julien Enjolras, this is Detective Nicolas Grantaire, NYPD. We need to know where Tanya and Connor Brandt are hiding." Enjolras said.

"I don’t know what you're talking about. Tanya and Connor have been dead for over a year." Father McCaskey said.

"Father, you don't understand. Agnes Fields has been murdered. Ron Brandt has the contents of her safe deposit box. He's on his way to them now." Enjolras told them.

"What? How could this happen?" That box was there to protect them." The father told them.

"It didn't, Father, but we can. We need to know their address." Grantaire said.

"Of course. 14 Cascadilla Street, Ithaca." The father told them.

Enjolras wiped out his phone and dialed. Grantaire turned to Enjolras. "Ithaca? That's only four hours away. Ron could already be there by now." He turned to the father. "Thanks."

Father McCaskey nodded as they left the office. They made their way out of the church.

***

Enjolras, Grantaire, and Courfeyrac waited patiently for news from the Ithaca Police. Enjolras had been on the phone with them almost from the moment that he and Grantaire had returned from the church. They heard noise over the speaker phone. Enjolras picked up the receiver. Grantaire and Courfeyrac were almost biting their nails as they waited.

"What?" Enjolras listened to what the police on the other line told him. "Okay. Thanks." He hung up the phone. "They found them." Grantaire and Courfeyrac cheered. "Tanya's gonna need a few stitches, but Connor's okay."

"Thank God." Courfeyrac said.

"They're driving them down here by police escort." Enjolras explained.

As they celebrated a job well done, the elevator opened, revealing Joly, Jehan, Marius, Cosette, and Combeferre. The five of them walked into the bullpen. Jehan had a bottle of champagne with cups in his hand.

"What are you all doing here?" Grantaire asked them.

"We’re here to celebrate you and Enjolras finally getting your shit together." Jehan said, holding up the bottle.

Grantaire nodded. He turned to Enjolras, placed his fingers in the belt loops of his boyfriend's jeans, pulling him toward him. They were just about to kiss when Courfeyrac came running.

"Captain's coming." Courfeyrac whispered, making his way to Combeferre.

They quickly pulled away from each other. It was against NYPD rules for its officers to have any form of romantic or sexual attachment with each other.

Javert came into the room, walking in the directions of Enjolras' desk. "Just wanted to check to see how you were holding up, Julien?"

"I'm alright. Just glad that it's over now, and that Tanya and Connor are safe." Enjolras said.

"And I'm just glad that you're out of there safe and sound. Especially since I thought that Grantaire was going to storm the place himself to get you out. After all, I haven't spent the last however many years watching you two go round and round for nothing." Javert told them.

Grantaire looked at him, wide-eyed. "You knew?"

"What? You think I'm an idiot?" Javert asked. "I had to maintain plausible deniability, which I can continue to do, as long as you two act professionally when you are here at the precinct."

Enjolras blushed, hiding his face in Grantaire's shoulder. Grantaire nodded. "That's something that we can do, sir."

"Good." Javert said. "You can continue you're celebration."

They finished the celebratory party at the precinct before Enjolras convinced Cosette and Marius get a hotel room for the night. He felt guilty for kicking out his sister on their weekend visit, but she was happy to oblige.

***

Enjolras unlocked the door to his apartment with Grantaire right behind him. He placed his badge in the safe next to the door, followed by his gun after making sure the safety was locked in place. Grantaire did the same. After they finished removing everything they needed to, Enjolras smiled at Grantaire before pulling him in for a kiss. Grantaire kissed him back, matching his passion. Backing Enjolras up against the front door.

When they pulled away for air, they looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

"Is there a special reason as to why you convinced your sister to go to a hotel on her weekend home?" Grantaire asked.

"There might be." Enjolras said, coyly.

"I see." Grantaire said, pulling Enjolras' shirt from where it was tucked in his jeans. His fingers finding the buttons afterward. "And what may I ask, does it involve?"

"Hmmmm…let's see. You and me, both of us naked. A bed. You opening me up before we have passionate sex. Until our hearts are content. Or we fall asleep in exhaustion whichever happens first." Enjolras said, watching Grantaire's fingers slowly open his shirt.

When the shirt was fully open, Grantaire pushed it off his shoulders and down his arms. His white undershirt went next. Grantaire ran his fingers over Enjolras' chest. His fingers drifted over the tattoo of Mathieu's name that was on the left side of his rib cage underneath his heart. Enjolras had gotten it almost right after they had put his killers behind bars. From the tattoo, his fingers drifted to the place where Enjolras had been shot. It was almost fully healed, but not quite.

Grantaire touched it. Enjolras noticed the sadness in his eyes. "It's alright, love. It's almost completely healed. Soon it will be nothing, but a scar. A scar that I'll have the rest of my life, but still just a scar."

"But it isn't just a scar. I could have lost you that night. If 'Ferre hadn't done what he did, you would have died in my arms." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras cupped his cheek, forcing him to look at him. "But you didn't. I'm right here. And I'm not going anywhere for a very, very long time, okay?"

Grantaire nodded before kissing him. While they kissed, Enjolras' own fingers found Grantaire's shirt and pulled it from his body. Allowing them skin on skin contact.

"Bedroom?" Grantaire asked, kissing down Enjolras' neck, who had his eyes closed.

"Please." Enjolras sighed.

Grantaire led Enjolras to his boyfriend's bedroom. He sat down on the foot of the bed before pulling Enjolras to sit on his lap. His mouth started to kiss down Enjolras' chest causing his boyfriend to moan, while his fingers found their way into Grantaire's curls.

Grantaire's arms wrapped around Enjolras' lean torso as he left a mark on his skin. He moved to unbuckle Enjolras' jean and his hand slipped inside his briefs, wrapping around his boyfriend's cock. Enjolras moaned against Grantaire's neck.

"Fuck."

Grantaire smiled as he pressed an open mouthed kiss against Enjolras' chest. "What do you want, baby?"

Enjolras cupped his face forcing to look at him. Grantaire saw that his eyes were black with lust. "You. Just you. I just need you."

Grantaire stood up with his boyfriend's legs and arms wrapped around him. He laid Enjolras down on the bed. He pulled Enjolras' jean and briefs off of his body. He moved his lips over Enjolras' legs, kissing from his ankle up to his thigh, avoiding the place that he knew that Enjolras wanted him most.

"Love, please." Enjolras begged.

Grantaire smiled before moving his hand to wrap around Enjolras' cock. He pumped his hand before he finally caved and placed the cock in his mouth. Enjolras moaned. Grantaire started sucking on his lover's beautiful cock. He felt Enjolras start to pull on his hair. He hummed around it, sending vibrations up Enjolras' spine.

"'Taire, please." Enjolras sighed with the lids of his eyes falling closed.

Grantaire continued to suck on his lover's cock until cum was entering his mouth. When he pulled off, Grantaire glanced up at Enjolras.

He leaned down to kiss him. "How was that, my darling?"

"Perfect. But I need more."

"Then, more is what you shall receive."

Grantaire removed his own jeans and boxers before grabbing the lube and a condom. He spread Enjolras' legs open before squeezing some of the lube onto his fingers. He stretched Enjolras open, relishing in the sounds that his lover made with just the slightest stroke of his fingers.

He was so in love with the man beneath him that his heart twisted at the thought of not being able to have this.

"Love, fuck me. I need you to fuck me." Enjolras told him as his hands twisted in the sheets.

Grantaire pulled his fingers out of Enjolras and got the condom ready. He slid it down his cock before adding lube. He lined himself up with Enjolras' entrance and slowly pushed in. Enjolras let out the most beautiful moan as his lover's cock stretched him. He wrapped his legs around his waist.

"Oh, God. Yes." Enjolras moaned into Grantaire's ear.

Grantaire kissed Enjolras' cheek before he started moving. Enjolras smiled up at him before bringing his mouth down to kiss him.

"I love you, so much."

Grantaire simply kissed him again before picking up his speed. He left a mark on the side of Enjolras' neck that would be difficult to hide, but Enjolras didn't care. He wanted to show off that he was taken by the most handsome man there was.

"Faster. Please. Faster." Enjolras moaned into Grantaire's neck.

He didn't see Grantaire's wicked smile. Grantaire reached for Enjolras' wrists and flipped them over, so that his lover was on top. Enjolras was taken by surprise, then he let out a moan over how much better the angle of Grantaire's cock was.

"Oh, yes." Enjolras said as he situated himself before starting his movements.

Grantaire placed his hands on Enjolras' waist as his lover moved on his cock. "God, baby, you feel so good wrapped around me."

Enjolras smiled wickedly. He leaned down to press a kiss to the side of Grantaire's neck before leaving a love bite. He sat back up, planting his hands on Grantaire's chest, continuing his movements. Enjolras nodded at Grantaire to start moving. Grantaire followed the speed that Enjolras set. His fingers digging into Enjolras' hip bones.

"Oh, God! Harder! Please!" Enjolras begged, throwing his head back with his hands still planted on Grantaire's chest.

Grantaire quickly flipped them back over, pinning Enjolras' arms above his head. He leaned down to whisper in Enjolras' ear. "I love you."

"I know, but would you please stop talking? I want you to fuck me until I forget what my name is" Enjolras told him.

Grantaire nodded, "I can do just that."

Grantaire started thrusting again, but his thrusts were hard and rough. Enjolras wrapped his legs tighter around his waist, but Grantaire still hand his wrists pinned down.

"God, love, more. Please, more." Enjolras moaned.

Grantaire sped up his thrusts even more, so that he was pounding into Enjolras. He let go of his love's wrists to place his hands on his waist, allowing him more balance. He could feel Enjolras' ankles digging into his ass.

"Yes! Fuck!" Enjolras moaned. His hands found their way into the sheets. His grip so tight that his knuckles were white. "Fuck me!"

Grantaire continued his thrusts that were deep, hard, and fast. He was sure that Enjolras would be walking with a limp for a few days.

As he pounded into Enjolras, he soon found his lover's prostate causing his lover to scream in maddened pleasure. "YES! Right there! Yes!"

Grantaire hit the prostate every couple of thrusts, but soon Enjolras was begging Grantaire to touch him. He wrapped his hand around Enjolras' cock. He could feel Enjolras start to clench around him, but he was determined that they would reach their releases at the exact same time.

And they did.

Both of their orgasms hit within seconds of each other. When their orgasms had reached their end, Grantaire gently pulled out of Enjolras before taking the condom off and using his shirt to clean them both of cum. Grantaire laid down next to Enjolras, who immediately cuddled into him.

"How do you feel?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras smiled as his hand drew patterns on Grantaire's chest. "Complete."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you on Wednesday!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, it wouldn't be a crime story without a crime to solve (that wasn't a robbery), now would it? The crime that is committed in this chapter is taken from the season three episode of "Castle" called "Punked".
> 
> Disclaimer: Still don't own "Les Mis", "Castle", or "Beauty and the Beast (2012)". I own this plot and the spelling/grammar mistakes.

The next morning, Enjolras woke up with a smile on his face as the memory of the night before came rushing back. He reached out to feel the bed next to him, only to feel that the spot where Grantaire had been laying was cold. Enjolras sat up in the bed, the sheets pooling around his waist as he tried to see if Grantaire was in the bathroom. But the bed was too cold for him to just be in the bathroom.

Enjolras removed the covers from his body and grabbed his briefs. He saw that Grantaire's shirt was still there, so he had to be still in the apartment. He got off the bed and opened the door. When he opened the door, Enjolras got a whiff of sizzling bacon. He smiled

He started making his way down the hall. His smile grew bigger when he saw Grantaire in the kitchen, standing over the stove as he cooked bacon. Enjolras tiptoed across the living room and into the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around Grantaire's waist and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.

"You are supposed to still be sleeping." Grantaire told him as he turned in Enjolras' arms.

"Sorry. But then, you shouldn't have left the bed. It was cold without you." Enjolras said, pressing a kiss to Grantaire's lips.

Grantaire chuckled. "I was coming back. I was hoping I'd be back before you woke up."

Enjolras smiled. "I can go back to bed, if you want, and act surprised when you come."

"Sounds like a plan.

"Alright." He pressed another quick kiss to his mouth and went back to his bedroom. Enjolras crawled under the covers and closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, he was being woken up by a slight shift in the bed and kisses to his bare shoulders. Enjolras turned his head, he smiled sleepily at Grantaire, who returned the smile. He leaned up to kiss Grantaire. They pulled away from each other when Enjolras remembered that Grantaire had brought breakfast.

They ate their breakfast, but before they could do anything else, both of their phones were going off. They sighed. Grantaire reached for his phone.

"We've got ourselves a murder."

Enjolras was already making his way out of the bed when Grantaire wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled him back. Enjolras fell back against the bed.

"'Taire, we have to go." Enjolras told him as Grantaire pressed a kiss to his jaw.

Grantaire didn't listen, he just kept kissing Enjolras.

"'Taire." Enjolras said.

Grantaire sighed. "Fine. But we are continuing this later."

Enjolras rolled his eyes, fondly, before pressing a chaste kiss to Grantaire's mouth. "Of course."

They finished getting dressed, grabbed their guns, and badges before leaving Enjolras' apartment.

***

Before heading down to Central Park where their murder had taken place, they stopped to get coffee. Then, when they arrived at the crime scene, they took turns going underneath the caution tape before walking to where Combeferre was kneeling down next to a body that only had boxers on.

"Good morning, Dr. Combeferre." Enjolras said. "Got an ID?"

"Not yet." Combeferre glanced at the partners. They were practically glowing. "Looks like you two had a good night." The other two blushed. Then, he saw the coffee in their hands. "How come you never bring me coffee? I'm here before you doing all the work."

"You can have the rest of mine." Grantaire offered.

"Actually, I don't like coffee. I prefer tea. But would it kill you to bring me a bear claw?" Combeferre asked.

"Speaking of killing." Enjolras said, gesturing towards the body. Getting right to work.

"Single GSW to the chest. Large caliber, probably a .45. Lividity suggests that time of death was around midnight." Combeferre explained.

"What was he doing out here practically naked at midnight?" Grantaire asked.

"I'm not sure, but I can tell you that he was clothed when he was shot. I found fibers in the bullet hole." Combeferre told them.

"That doesn't make sense. The killer shot him, and then took his bloody clothes?" Grantaire asked.

"Maybe the killer was worried that there was forensic evidence that would connect them." Enjolras pointed out.

Combeferre watched them, and even after working over 100 cases with them, he could never get over how quickly they went from Enjolras and Grantaire, the lovers, to Enjolras and Grantaire, the detectives. Yes, they flirted, but they were still always professional. Granted, they only had gotten together officially the day before, but the point still stood. He was pulled out of his own thoughts by his own boyfriend approaching the other two.

"CSU found this in a trash can near 5th." Courfeyrac handed Grantaire the wallet. He looked at his friends and couldn't help it. "Someone got lucky." He sang, teasingly. Combeferre snorted a laugh.

Enjolras rolled his eyes, even as his face grew a darker shade of red. He knew that the teasing wouldn't end, so he said. "Alright, yes, we had sex. Now that the obvious has been established, can we stay focused on the task at hand?"

Courfeyrac held up his hands in surrender before leaning down to press a kiss to Combeferre's hair. He then turned back to the other two again. "The license photo matches this guy here." He pointed at the dead man.

"Daniel Goldstein. 25. Lives in SoHo." Grantaire read from the license.

"Yeah, he also had a work ID from Berman Rose down on Wall Street." Courfeyrac said.

Grantaire handed the wallet to Enjolras, so he could have a look. "So, he lived downtown and worked downtown. What was he doing up here?"

"Let's take this down to the lab." Enjolras said, gesturing to Daniel's body. Courfeyrac and Combeferre nodded.

Grantaire and Enjolras walked back in the direction of the squad car. They headed down to the precinct. The victim's only next of kin, his sister, had already been called and asked to come down to the precinct. When they arrived, they were told that the victim's sister was waiting in the interview lounge. After introducing themselves, they explained to her how her brother had been found.

"His clothes were taken? Why would anyone take his clothes?" Rachel, the victim's sister asked.

"We don’t know, Miss Goldstein. Can you tell us what your brother was doing in the park?" Grantaire asked.

"That late? I have no idea." Rachel told them, utterly clueless.

"Well, the place that Daniel was found is known for its drug activity. Was he using?" Enjolras asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No. He barely even drank."

"Did he have any enemies or conflicts that you know of?" Enjolras asked.

"No, no. Look, none of this makes any sense. It's just…our parents died in a car accident when he was 12 and since then, he's always been so cautious." Rachel explained.

Grantaire glanced at Enjolras, who was writing down the information. He asked the next question. "What about dating? Was there anyone special in his life?"

"He wished, but no. Daniel didn't have a social life. He barely had social skills. I mean, he was a sweetheart, but he was also a dork. Plus, he was always at work, anyway." Rachel explained.

"At Berman Rose? What did he do for them?" Grantaire asked.

Rachel thought for a moment. "He created financial products for them. He was this incredible math genius. Got his PhD from MIT. I thought for sure he'd be a professor or something, but these hedge funds, they hired guys like him, they pay them obscene amounts of money. Twenty-five years old, he bought my apartment for me."

There was a knock on the door. Enjolras and Grantaire look up to see Courfeyrac on the other side.

"Excuse us." Enjolras told Rachel.

They left the interview room and followed Courfeyrac.

"They got a hit off the victim's wallet." Courfeyrac told them.

"Anyone good?" Grantaire asked.

Courfeyrac smiled. "Oh, yeah."

He led them to the observation room that allowed you to look into the interrogation room. In the room was a scary looking strong and bald man. Grantaire looked at Enjolras, who nodded. They left the observation room to go into the interrogation room. They sat down across the man.

"Awaiting court date on three aggravated assault cases in the past month, Mr. D'Andre. You inflicted dozens of broken bones, gouged out one of your victims' eyes, bit off part of an ear of another one. Sounds like committing murder was inevitable. I'm just curious, why did you take his clothes?" Grantaire listed off from the file Courfeyrac gave them.

"Wasn't me." The suspect, Roland D'Andre, said.

"Well, then why are your fingerprints on the victim's wallet? Did he happen to drop it and you politely picked it up for him? And why did one of my detectives find this unregistered .45 in your apartment, which just happens to match the size of the bullet hole in our victim?" Enjolras asked, holding up an evidence bag with a gun inside. "And if you're so innocent, why did you resist arrest, almost breaking the neck of another one of my detectives?"

"Why don't you just confess the truth? It's going to come out sooner or later." Grantaire pointed out.

"He was already dead." D'Andre told them.

"With the wallet lying conveniently next to him?" Grantaire asked.

"If you're not going to admit, you might want to come up with a story that is a little more convincing." Enjolras said.

"It's what happened." D'Andre insisted.

But it was clear that Enjolras and Grantaire still didn't believe him.

***

Later that day, they found themselves in the morgue after Combeferre called them with an update. Combeferre led them to a microscope where he had the bullet waiting to be looked at.

"I was wrong about the gun that was used. It wasn't a .45."

Enjolras raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

".38?" Grantaire asked.

"Nope. It's not a .44 or .357 or a .22 or a 9-millimeter, or any kind of bullet I've ever seen." Combeferre listed off.

"So, it's a new kind of bullet?" Grantaire asked.

"Oh, no. Not new at all. Check it out." Combeferre moved away from the microscope to allow them to have a look. Enjolras went first.

"The bullet is round." Enjolras observed.

"See that white coating?" Combeferre asked.

Enjolras took another look. "Yeah, what is it? Oxidation?"

"Lead oxide, to be exact."

Grantaire crossed his arms. "Rust."

"Yep, and based on the amount of it, I'd say this bullet is over 200 years old." Combeferre told them.

The detectives looked at each other with the same confused expression on their faces.

***

They arrived back at the precinct, getting off the elevator. The detectives made their way to the bullpen and to their desks. Grantaire stopped to stand in front of the murder board to stare at it.

"Why isn't this making any sense?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras shrugged his shoulders, who was also still standing. "I don't know, but we'll figure it out. We always do. Besides, we still haven't roll out Roland D'Andre."

"I just want to get this done as quickly as possible, so we can go home and continue what was interrupted this morning." Grantaire pulled Enjolras into his arms.

"Is that all you think about? Sex?" Enjolras asked, teasingly.

"When it's as great as what last night was? Absolutely." Grantaire said, leaning to kiss Enjolras.

But Enjolras pulled away. "You know the rules, love. Not here.

Grantaire sighed before letting Enjolras go. "I know." He pouted.

Enjolras couldn't help himself, he pressed a kiss to his cheek before sitting down at his desk. He turned to Courfeyrac, who had just arrived.

"Have you followed up with the victim's sister regarding the antique bullet?" Enjolras asked.

"Yeah, she had no clue about antique bullets or guns, but there's somebody who does. Abe Sandrich, antique weapons expert you requested." Courfeyrac gestured to one of the conference rooms.

Enjolras and Grantaire walked in to the one that had a man waiting for them. They shared with the man everything that they knew so far with the case.

"I like .45s. Catch the right angle, this sucker could take your head clean off. But it's not the gun you're looking for." Abe Sandrich said.

"Why is that?" Grantaire asked.

"Barrel would have to be modified. This one's factory fresh."

"Well, do you think D'Andre the giant was telling the truth when he said he found the wallet in the grass." Grantaire asked.

"The killer did take Goldstein's clothes, so it's possible that the wallet might have fallen out when he left the crime scene. What kind of pistol could have fired that bullet?" Enjolras asked.

"We just usually call them lead balls, for obvious reasons. I'd say 18th century flintlocks, too many brands to even speculate. You need to find the actual pistol to match it to this lead ball." Sandrich said.

"And how many people would own that kind of pistol?" Enjolras asked.

"Hard to say. They're considered collectibles, so they don't have to be registered." Sandrich told them.

Grantaire looked at Enjolras. "Making it pretty smart to kill someone with one."

"Oh, yeah. Guns may be old, but they still got a lot of kill left in them." Sandrich told them.

They finished up with Abe Sandrich. Courfeyrac was standing next to the murder board, and they walked over to it to catch him up.

"So, is D'Andre our guy?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Afraid not." Enjolras told them. "Any luck with the clothes?"

"Nope. CSU looked in every garbage can in a five block radius of the park." Courfeyrac said.

Enjolras sighed. "What is so special about these clothes that the victim would take them?"

"Maybe he needed the clothes." Grantaire commented.

"Sadly, I don't have another theory. My question is, what did a Wall Street cruncher like Goldstein get himself into? Grantaire and I will go to his firm. Courf, you have Cassie's help in tracking down any antique gun enthusiasts on social media sites or local clubs. Maybe someone from Goldstein's life with pop." Enjolras told him.

"You got it."

Enjolras turned to Grantaire. "I just don't get how someone could shoot Goldstein, steal his clothes, and not hang on to his wallet. Just doesn't make sense."

"No, it doesn't, but let's go see if we can find some answers." Grantaire told him.

Grantaire stood up, Enjolras followed him to the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The mystery continues next chapter that will be up soon!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***TW: QUICK MENTIONS OF SUICIDE IN THIS CHAPTER***
> 
> Disclaimer: You know the drill.

The detectives went to Berman Rose to meet with Goldstein's boss, Adam Murphy. They explained to him what happened with Goldstein, including him being found in his underwear.

"In his underwear? Danny's been working for me for two years, but I just don't know what he's been up in the park. He wasn't exactly the outside type." Adam Murphy told them.

"What about antique guns? Do you know anything about those?" Grantaire asked.

Murphy looked confused. "Antique, no. He wasn't into guns at all."

"Well, we understand that he worked long hours. Do you know when he left last night?" Enjolras asked, writing down any information that might be needed.

"Uh, yeah. Around 9:30." Murphy told them.

Just then an assistant came in holding a tray with a pitcher of water and few glasses on it. She set it down on the tables.

"This is Julia Foster, Danny's assistant. This is Detective Enjolras and Detective Grantaire." Murphy introduced them.

"Were you here last night when Goldstein left?" Grantaire asked.

"Of course."

"Any idea where he was headed?" Enjolras asked.

Julia shook her head. "No, he just said goodbye."

"And what about during the day? Was there anything out of the ordinary? Any strange phone calls?" Enjolras asked.

"No, just the unhappy investor. Although…"Julia told them.

"Although, what?" Grantaire asked.

"The Lower Tide Fund." Murphy told them.

"What's that?" Enjolras asked.

"It was one of the financial products that Daniel created for us, a synthetic CDO cubed." Murphy explained.

Enjolras looked confused. "English?"

"A really big bet that prices would return to historical norms." Murphy told them.

"So, what happened?" Grantaire asked.

Julia took the opportunity to explain. "It tanked. Hundreds of millions of dollars were lost overnight."

"When was this?" Enjolras asked.

"Three months ago." Julia told them.

"There must've been a lot of angry investors." Grantaire told them.

Murphy then explained. "We fielded scores of less than complimentary messages from clients."

"More like apoplectic, and a lot of them blamed Danny." Julia said.

"Right, well, we're going to need a copy of all these messages and a list of anyone who lost their money in the fund." Enjolras said.

***

Enjolras and Grantaire returned to the precinct and discovered that Courfeyrac had been successful in finding someone with an antique gun collection, as well as someone with a grudge against Daniel. An Ivan Podofski, who was already called down to the precinct for questioning.

When Ivan arrived, they took him into interrogation. Enjolras and Grantaire entered next where they played the recording of the tape that Courfeyrac found. After the tape was over, Enjolras stopped it.

"I think some context is in order. I had only just lost four million dollars." Ivan defended.

"Yes, and in that context you threatened to kill Mr. Goldstein, and then he was killed." Grantaire said.

"Where were you last night between eleven and one?" Enjolras asked.

"Asleep in my bed."

"Can anyone vouch for that?" Grantaire asked.

"Me."

"Myself and I got your back, too?" Grantaire asked.

"Okay, look. I know how this appears, but I think there's, uh, an explanation." Ivan told them.

"Fire away." Enjolras said.

"Several months ago, I had a consultation at Berman Rose. When I mentioned my guns, Goldstein asked if I knew how he could get a hold of a Sherlock Holmes gun." Ivan said.

Grantaire raised an eyebrow and asked. "So, you're pointing a finger at Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?"

Ivan sighed. "I'm saying that Goldstein clearly had an interest in antique guns. Maybe that interest got him killed."

"If you're so confident that Goldstein got mixed up with someone else, I'm sure you won't mind submitting your collection for testing with ballistics." Grantaire said.

"These are antiques, Detective." Ivan said.

"Would you prefer being arrested for murder?" Enjolras asked.

They left the interrogation room before walking to the murder board. Courfeyrac came up to them with another file in his hands.

"Ballistics is taking possession of Podofski's guns. They have preliminary results by tomorrow." Courfeyrac explained.

"They never prefer to be arrested for murder." Grantaire sighed, folding his arms across his chest and resting against his desk. Enjolras patted his shoulder before turning to Courfeyrac.

"Anything else?" Enjolras asked.

"Just a hit from Goldstein's car from traffic enforcement. Parking ticket from last night." Courfeyrac handed Grantaire the report.

"You've got to be kidding me. Goldstein drives a DeLorean." Grantaire said, looking at the report.

"Isn't that the car from _Back to the Future_?" Courfeyrac asked to which Grantaire nodded.

Enjolras took the report from Grantaire. "The ticket was written at two in the morning, that's postmortem."

"Car should still be there."

"East 82nd between Lex and 3rd. That's a few blocks from the park." Enjolras said. "If you're going to park illegally, why not park closer?"

"Because he was going somewhere on that block. Three more parking tickets in the last several months all on 82nd between Lex and 3rd." Courfeyrac replied.

"So, he was going somewhere regularly on that block." Grantaire said.

"Maybe a girlfriend or boyfriend." Courfeyrac said.

"Look into it. Pick that car up."

Courfeyrac nodded. "I'm on it."

***

Courfeyrac went to go pick up the car, and while he was picking up the car, he found a man, Lord Henry, wearing period clothes on them with a giant blood stain in the middle. He got the clothes to Combeferre at the morgue. He then got Lord Henry's story.

Combeferre tested the clothes. After he had the results from the tests on the clothes, he called Enjolras and Grantaire down to the morgue.

"Our Lord Henry's story checks out. Courfeyrac found a matching ascot in the garbage can where Henry said the he found the clothes. Our guy might be unstable, but he is not out killer. So, why was Goldstein wearing this costume?" Enjolras said, walking into the morgue.

"Well, it’s Victorian. Antique." Grantaire pointed out.

"I don't know what to think, but the plot thickens." Combeferre said.

"Forensics came back on the clothes?" Enjolras asked.

"Between the garbage can and our homeless guy there was quite a list of gross substances of which I will spare you the details, but I did find something interesting on the right hand glove and the right sleeve of the shirt. Potassium nitrate and sulfur." Combeferre said, proudly.

Grantaire looked at him, wide-eyed. "Gunshot residue?"

"So, Goldstein did not go quietly into the night, he had a gun." Enjolras said.

"And he fired back." Grantaire looked at Enjolras.

***

After leaving the morgue, Grantaire called Courfeyrac to get to the park with CSU. They were already there when Enjolras and Grantaire arrived. Courfeyrac was searching the grass for anther bullet. Then, he found it.

"Enjolras! Grantaire!" He waved them over to where he was standing. Pointing to another lead ball on the ground.

"Another antique." Enjolras said.

"Looks exactly like the one that killed Goldstein." Courfeyrac said.

Grantaire nodded. He looked in the direction of the caution tape where they had found Goldstein. In that moment, he started to realize what Goldstein had been doing in the park. "Let's say that our killer...let us just say that our killer is standing…" He moved Courfeyrac back a few steps. "Over here. Goldstein was killed all the way over there." He pointed in the direction of where Goldstein's murder took place. "A nice, flat area between them."

Courfeyrac looked at him confused, then at Enjolras, but he was too busy watching his boyfriend with careful eyes because he was clearly onto something. Courfeyrac rolled his eyes. "What are you getting at, Grantaire? Some kind of game?"

"Not a game. Goldstein was wearing formal turn of the century clothes. He shot an antique bullet identical to the one he was killed with. Probably fired from an identical gun." Grantaire said as he walked toward the crime scene, counting his steps away from his boyfriend and Courfeyrac. "Four, five, six, seven…Combeferre said that he was killed about midnight. St. James Church is right over there…" He pointed in the direction of the church. An officer held up the caution tape. "Thanks…on Madison! I bet they could hear the bell chiming all the way from over here. Nine, forty-ish." He turned back to face his boyfriend and friend. "They stood at about forty paces from one another! This wasn't a game! It was an old fashioned duel!"

***

The next morning, Grantaire walked into the bullpen from the elevator. Enjolras was already there. They had decided that it would be a better idea to go home to their own apartments until after the case was solved, then they would pick up from where they had left off the morning before. Plus, Enjolras wanted to spend more time with his sister since they had headed back to D.C. early that morning.

Grantaire walked behind his boyfriend. He pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Hey, babe. How did you sleep?"

"Alright. Probably would have slept better if you had been there." Enjolras told him with a smile, leaning against Grantaire's shoulder.

"I'm sure. But the sooner we solve this case, the sooner I'll be back in your bed." Grantaire told him, pressing a kiss to the top of his head. "Speaking of anything new?" He gestured to the murder board.

"Ivan Podofski's antique gun collection all cleared ballistics." Enjolras said,

"Well, at least some guy in ballistics had fun firing them off." Grantaire commented.

"I also checked with Goldstein's sister and co-workers. None of them know anything about duels or Victorian clothes or what Goldstein was doing on East 82nd." Enjolras explained.

Enjolras stood up from his desk to go to the break room for coffee. Grantaire followed after him.

"Sounds like he had a secret life." Grantaire said.

"That somehow led to a duel." Enjolras replied.

"Maybe he figured someone besmirched his honor. Maybe it was about a girl or a boy." Grantaire said.

Courfeyrac came in to the break room. "Hey."

"Did you figure out what Goldstein was doing on East 82nd?" Enjolras asked.

"No, but get this, I'm going through Goldstein's car and I found a pile of receipts. He must've been planning to submit for reimbursement. One of them from three weeks ago at a café. On it he wrote, "Coffee with Troy Kenworth." And that name kind of rings a bell." Courfeyrac said.

"One of the angry Lower Tide fund investors?" Grantaire asked.

"No, but his father, Charles Kenworth, was. Guy loses two million bucks, and then he loses his house, his marriage, and then two months ago, he killed himself." Courfeyrac explained.

"Did Troy have any priors?" Enjolras inquired.

"Yeah, more like afters. After his father committed suicide, he was charged with assault in four separate bar fights." Courfeyrac said.

"Revenge. Oldest motive for murder in the book. Maybe Troy thought someone besmirched his father's honor." Grantaire said.

"And then, he forced Goldstein to settle the score." Enjolras said, taking a sip of his coffee.

They called Troy down to the precinct, bringing him to the interrogation room the moment he arrived. Enjolras and Grantaire went in after him a few minutes after. The first questions they asked Troy were about his father's suicide.

"Yeah, I was the one who found his body." Troy replied.

"The report said that he used a shotgun." Enjolras said, looking at the file. "I can't imagine walking in on that."

"Pretty messy. I try not to think about it." Troy told them.

"I understand, but since then, Mr. Kenworth, you have charges pending in four assault cases." Grantaire said.

"I started drinking too much, lashed out."

Grantaire nodded before saying. "But those were just random people at bars. I mean, they weren't even responsible for your father's suicide. But Goldstein, he put your father in the fund that lost him all of his money. I could understand blaming him."

"I did, but then, I talked to him and he said that he warned Pop to diversify. And the fact is, Dad and Mom had been having problems for years. When we lost the house and I had to drop out of school, it was the last straw and Mom left him. That's what pushed him over the edge. And ever since his death, Mom's been struggling to make payments on our apartment." Troy explained.

"Is that why you went to go see Goldstein three weeks ago?" Enjolras asked,

"Look, I wanted to find out if any of the money was left in the account." Troy defended himself.

"And what did Goldstein tell you?"

"The truth. All the money was gone."

"Well, that must have made you pretty angry." Enjolras replied.

"Okay, I know what you're getting at, but that meeting is what turned me around. I haven't had a drink since, Mom and I have been able to stay in our place, I might even go back to school next semester, all because Danny's a standup guy and he gave me a job. That's where I was the night he got killed." Troy explained.

"At Berman Rose?" Grantaire asked.

"Uh, no." Troy said.

"What kind of a job did Danny give you?" Enjolras asked.

"I can't say." Troy said. Enjolras and Grantaire looked at him with wide eyes. "Look, I had to sign a confidentiality agreement, okay? I could be fired."

"Or you could be arrested. Is this job on 82nd between Lex and 3rd?" Enjolras asked.

Troy nodded.

***

Troy gave them the address of the location where his job was. Then, Enjolras and Grantaire left the precinct to go and check it out. They arrived at a building called "Gaslamp League". After walking up the steps, Enjolras knocked on the door.

A man dressed in a costume, going by the name of Doorkeeper Joe, peaked his head out through a small opening in the door. "What was the exact number of pounds that Mr. Frog bet that he could travel around the world in eighty days?'

Grantaire and Enjolras looked unimpressed, so Enjolras held up his badge.

"NYPD. Open the damn door." Enjolras commanded.

Doorkeeper Joe let them in. Both of them looked around the room in astonishment. Everyone in the room was dressed in period clothing from the 19th century. The room was even decorated to look like it was from the 19th century.

"Where are we?" Enjolras asked, looking around the room.

"Victorian London." Joe said.

"When are we?" Grantaire asked.

"1892." Joe said.

Enjolras finished looking around the room. Then, he turned to Joe and asked. "What is this place?"

"Gaslamp League. Private Steampunk Society. Straight ahead is our club president, Owen Peterson. He's on the penny farthing." Joe explained as he pointed to a man riding a contraption that looked like a unicycle, but was a little larger and looked like it was powered by steam.

Enjolras turned to Grantaire and asked. "Steampunk?"

"It's a subculture that embraces the simplicity and romance of the past, but at the same time couple it with the hope and promise and shear super coolness of futuristic design." Grantaire explained, knowing that his boyfriend wasn't well-versed in the different sub-cultures.

Enjolras nodded before he turned to walk toward, Owen Peterson, who was still riding the penny farthing. He held up his badge." Excuse me, Mr. Peterson, I'm Detective-"

Owen fell from the penny farthing after being startled. He led the detectives to a different part of the building to answer their questions.

"I don't know what to tell you, Detectives. We all heard about Danny yesterday. Hard to believe we saw him here the night before." Owen said.

"Well, the way you and your friends are partying make me feel like you weren't so upset." Enjolras said, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We're just Romantics, Detective. Look at the world, don't like what we see, so we recreate it here. An oasis where human potential and ingenuity is limitless. Where there's poetry and wonder and meaning even in death." Owen explained.

Enjolras and Grantaire looked at each other and could tell that they had the exact same thought: _Jehan would love this place._

"What time did he leave that night?" Grantaire asked.

"Around 11:30."

"Did he tell you what he was doing?" Grantaire asked.

"No."

Enjolras sighed. "He went to the park for a duel."

"What you mean a duel?" Owen asked.

Grantaire placed his hand in his pockets. "The kind where people shoot at each other. They were using antique guns. Do you know anything about that?"

Owen led them to a display case. "Dueling pistols."

Enjolras and Grantaire looked at them. Grantaire noticed something about them, pointing it out to Enjolras. "With, uh, lead balls with white coating?"

Enjolras grabbed his latex gloves and put them on before opening the display case. He picked up one of the pistols and smelled the barrel. "This has been fire recently."

"But they're just for show." Owen said.

Just then, Grantaire noticed Adam Murphy, Goldstein's boss out of the corner of his eyes. "Adam." Adam turned and ran. "Stop! Stop!" He started running after him, Enjolras followed after. "Out of the way! Get out of the way.

Murphy ran outside, but tripped on the stairs and toppled down them. Enjolras and Grantaire stopped at the top of the stairs, staring down at him. Grantaire walked down the steps to arrest Murphy.

***

They took him back to the precinct and into the interrogation room. They weren't even in there five minutes before Murphy confessed.

"Yes, I shot him. He just kind of crumpled over backwards, but I thought he was kidding. I jogged over expecting him to jump up and second, but he was just—just lying there so still. A—and then, I saw the blood and heard Julia. She's on her knees, screaming, "No! Please, God, no!" I—I freaked out. We took his clothes a—and we just ran." He confessed.

"Julia? You mean Goldstein's assistant?" Grantaire asked.

"He was in love with her." Murphy said.

"Had they been seeing each other a long time?" Enjolras asked.

"No. No, Dan just kissed her once a couple of weeks outside a bar, but she wasn't—she wasn't interested in him." Murphy explained.

Enjolras wrote down the information. "So, you were involved with her?"

"Not really involved, but Dan caught us fooling around in my office late one night last week." Murphy said.

"And you couldn't think of a better way of settling this other than a duel?" Enjolras asked.

"W—we—we just thought it would be funny. Danny swore that we couldn't get hurt." Murphy said.

"Shooting at each other?" Grantaire asked with a raised eyebrow.

"H—he ran all these complex equations. He said—said that at forty paces there—there was no chance that we could actually hit each other. Something about 18th century guns have no rifling in the barrel." Murphy said.

"So, if you couldn't kill each other, what was the point of the duel?" Enjolras asked.

"To impress Julia. She would never get serious with geeks like us. But we figured that maybe if---if she saw us duel over, then…that maybe, that one –that one of—one of us could…"

After hearing Murphy's confession, they have officers take Murphy to holding. Courfeyrac, who had called Julia down after hearing Murphy give her name, had just come out after questioning Julia.

"Julia confirmed that she was the only other person present at the duel. No one else knew." Courfeyrac told Grantaire

Grantaire glanced at Julia through the glass. "Alright, let her go."

Courfeyrac nodded. He walked back into the interrogation room.

Enjolras sat at his desk in the bullpen, looking at the murder board. Grantaire came to sit at his desk with more coffee for Enjolras.

"How do you point the gun at someone, shoot, and not expect to kill them?" Enjolras asked.

"Well, they were blinded by the romance of it all. And Goldstein did the math." Grantaire pointed out, leaning against Enjolras' desk.

"Between this and the Lower Tide Fund, maybe he's not such a genius."

"Or maybe he's just unlucky."

Enjolras sighed, running his hand through his curls. "Well, then we've got a problem because we have to make a recommendation to the D.A. between murder and manslaughter, the difference being life in prison or just a couple of years. I mean, are antique guns really so inaccurate?" Enjolras asked.

"Only one way to find out." Grantaire said with a smile on his face and raise of his eyebrow.

***

Later that night, the boyfriends found themselves at the gun range with Sandrich and antique pistols. They each stood at a target, ear muffs over their ears, and an antique pistol in their hand. Each tried to hit their target 10 times, but each time they failed miserably.

After the final time where both their lead balls hit the wall next to their target, Grantaire removed his muffs and sighed. "Manslaughter it is."

"Yep." Enjolras replied.

***

Later that night, Grantaire was going through the file of the case where there was a knock on the door. Joly and Jehan were out at a poetry slam. He went to go get the door, only to see his boyfriend on the other side.

"Hey." He invited Enjolras inside and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

When they pulled away, Enjolras told him. "Adam Murphy didn't kill Goldstein."

"But he confessed." Grantaire crossed his arms over his chest.

"And I believe that he believes he did it, but he didn't." Enjolras said.

Grantaire looked confused, "Do tell."

"It bothered me that we couldn't hit the target at the shooting range, and so I ran ballistics on the dueling pistols. The bullet that hit Daniel Goldstein didn't match either one of them. Adam couldn't have killed him."

"You're talking full on Grassy Knoll conspiracy theory." Grantaire said.

"Not theory. Fact. There was a third shooter, and that's our killer." Enjolras told his boyfriend.

***

The next day, Enjolras, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, and CSU were back at the crime looking for another bullet that would point in the direction of another killer. Courfeyrac was up in a tree where he found a dead squirrel.

"Hey, Enj, R!" Courfeyrac called.

"Did you find Adam Murphy's bullet?" Enjolras asked.

Courfeyrac showed them the evidence bag with the lead ball that killed the squirrel.

"Lead ball." Grantaire said.

"He didn't kill Goldstein, but he did kill Squirrelstein. What are the odds, huh?" Courfeyrac said, holding up the dead animal.

"Oh, no. They took his clothes, too." Grantaire joked.

Courfeyrac handed the dead squirrel to a member of CSU. "Could you?"

"Aww." The uniform said.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." Courfeyrac said.

Enjolras walked to where Goldstein had been standing, which was marked by an orange construction cone. "Okay, so, we know that Goldstein was standing right over here."

"Facing Adam, who was right over there." Grantaire pointed to the other orange cone that was 40 paces away that marked where Adam was standing.

"Right, and if our killer wanted to shoot him without either of them seeing him, he would be standing right over…" Enjolras scanned the park before finding a clump of trees. "There. By that clump of trees."

They all walked over to the clump of trees where a uniform found fibers and placed them in an evidence bag.

"Detectives, I've got clothing fibers." The uniform said, handing the evidence bag over to Enjolras.

Enjolras took the evidence bag from the uniform and held it up to Grantaire. "This thread look familiar?"

"Oh, I'd recognize that burgundy velvet anywhere."

"Kind of says steampunk, doesn't it?" Enjolras asked.

"Matter of fact, I think I know the murder weapon." Grantaire said.

***

They left the park and crime scene to head back to the Gaslamp League. Doorkeeper Joe opened the door for them. Once they were inside, they made their way to the bar where Tory Kenworth, who was dressed in a fancy velvet burgundy steampunk uniform, was standing behind.

"Couldn't stay away, huh? Can I get you guys something?" Troy asked.

"Sure, Troy. We're looking for a shooter." Enjolras said.

"Actually, I think we already found one. Nice uniform, by the way," Grantaire said.

Enjolras turned from his boyfriend to Troy. "We found your father's shotgun. We know that you modified it in order to shoot antique lead ball bullets."

"What are you talking about? Adam Murphy already confessed, right?" Troy asked, confused.

"Turns out Adam Murphy couldn't have done it. Simply because of the science of the ballistics from their pistols." Grantaire told him.

"It was pretty clever firing your father's shotgun at the exact moment that Adam and Goldstein fired their guns." Enjolras said.

"Making Adam believe that he was the one that killed Goldstein right as the church bells chimed midnight. Isn't that right?" Grantaire asked.

"Seeing him in here every night in that ridiculous outfit, just throwing around all that money. Why should he get to live like that when my dad is dead?" Troy told him through gritted teeth and clear anger on his face.

Enjolras walked around the bar to arrest Troy and read him his Miranda rights. Then, they led him out to the squad car. When they arrived at the precinct, an officer led Troy to booking. Afterward, they spent the rest of the afternoon, filling out the paperwork for the case.

***

When evening came around, Javert came out of his office to talk to them about the case. Enjolras filled him in as Grantaire took down the pictures that were on the murder board, putting them in an evidence box, all while adding details of the case if Enjolras missed something.

"Knowing that our shooter was a staff member at the club let us straight back to Troy." Grantaire said.

"He overheard Goldstein and Murphy plan the duel and took his opportunity." Enjolras replied.

"And then, Troy's alibi fell apart as soon as we started interviewing other staff members who couldn't remember seeing him there half an hour before or after the duel."

"Dueling over a girl, avenging the death of a loved one." Javert said.

"Cuts to the heart of romance." Grantaire said.

"And the tragedy." Enjolras added.

"Good work, Detectives." Javert congratulated them.

"Thank you, sir." They said in unison before Javert walked away and back to his office.

After placing the last of the pictures in the evidence box and handing it off to another officer in the precinct, Grantaire turned to Enjolras.

"Are you ready to head home?"

Enjolras smiled. "I sure am."

They packed up their stuff. Grantaire held out his hand. Enjolras took his hand and laced their hands together, leading them in the elevator.

"My place or yours?" Enjolras asked as the elevator door closed.

"Yours. Joly and Jehan are home. Did 'Ferre say anything?" Grantaire asked him.

"'Ferre was going to Courf's. My gut tells me that they are going to be moving in together sooner rather than later." Enjolras told him.

Grantaire smiled and pulled Enjolras in for a kiss.

***

They made their way back to Enjolras' apartment after picking up some Chinese for dinner. Enjolras unlocked the door, they both entered the apartment before he shut the door and locked it again. They placed their guns and badges in the safe before walking into the kitchen. Grantaire found the remote and turned it to Netflix to pick a random move to watch while they ate their dinner. After they finished their dinner, they cuddled on the couch.

Grantaire turned to Enjolras, "So…"

"So, what?" Enjolras asked.

"The anniversary of the day we met is coming up in two days." Grantaire said.

"And?" Enjolras smiled as he played with a piece of string on Grantaire's shirt.

"How about on that day, we go on our first official date?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras pulled away to look at him. "I would like that very much."

They kissed and Grantaire pulled away to say. "Time to pick up where we left off?"

Enjolras nodded. He reached for the remote to turn off the TV before taking Grantaire's hand and leading him to the bedroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next two chapter on Friday, but they won't be posted until very late.
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today was incredibly busy which is why these chapters are so late. I apologize with first date fluffiness and some sexy times.
> 
> ***TW: FOR A QUICK LITTLE ENCOUNTER WITH HOMOPHOBIA***
> 
> Disclaimer: You know the spiel.

Two days later, Grantaire walked into the precinct with two cups of coffee. They hadn't caught a murder case yet, but it was only a matter of time. He saw Enjolras sitting at his desk. Grantaire hadn't stayed the night before because it had been the weekly game night that he had with his own roommates. Joly and Jehan had invited Enjolras, but his boyfriend declined, saying that he had paperwork to do.

Grantaire walked into the bullpen and set the coffee on his boyfriend's desk. "Hello, my love."

Enjolras smiled. "Hello." He quickly checked to see if the coast was clear before kissing Grantaire.

"Look at you, breaking the rules." Grantaire said.

Enjolras rolled his eyes, fondly. "Well, what am I supposed to do when my boyfriend is so damn kissable?"

"Touché." Grantaire said. "So, as it is the anniversary of the day we met, we still on for that date tonight?"

"As long as a case doesn't come in, I say it's a date."

"Good because I have these." Grantaire reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope that had the logo for _Harry Potter and the Cursed Child_ on the side.

When Enjolras saw the logo, he looked up at his boyfriend with raised eyebrows. "You know how much I hated that when I read the script."

"What?" Grantaire looked down. "Oh, they're not for that. They just stuck them in a envelope that happened to have the logo on there. Just open it."

Enjolras took the envelope from his boyfriend and opened it. " _Pretty Woman_?"

"Yep. I know that you're a sucker for the movie, so I figured why not see the musical."

Enjolras smiled before kissing him again. "Thank you. Now, I really hope we don't get a case."

"Me too."

Enjolras glanced at the time. He remembered that he had an appointment with David, and he was going to be late if he didn't leave right away.

"Shit. I have to go."

"Why?"

"I have an appointment with the therapist who handled my treatment after I was shot."

"But I thought you were cleared."

"I am. I just want to keep going because this therapist is one of the few who has looked at me with sympathy in their eyes, instead of like I was helpless. Plus, he actually helped me in getting the wall down."

Grantaire nodded. "Oh, okay. Well, I guess. I'll see you later."

Enjolras kissed him while he grabbed his coffee. "You sure will."

***

Enjolras arrived at David's office with two minutes to spare. He made his way to the floor and knocked on the door.

"Come in." David said from the other side. Enjolras walked in. "Right on time, Enjolras."

Enjolras sat down while David grabbed his file. David sat down across from him.

"So, Enjolras, tell me how you've been since the last time we met? Did you work everything out with Grantaire?"

"Well, we've worked it out, but it was a little bit of a journey to get there." Enjolras said.

"Were you able to tell him how you feel?" David asked.

Enjolras nodded. "How about I start from the moment I left here the other day." David nodded and Enjolras began the story. "Well, when I left here, I went home to change clothes and went to the Musain, which was where I knew Grantaire would be. But when I got there, I caught him kissing Alex. Once I saw that, I ran home and cried. Now, I don't cry often, but that night, I just cried and cried. In the days that followed, I separated myself from Grantaire as much as I could when we were not at work. I just needed time. But a few days ago, and I'm sure you heard about this on the news, I was taken hostage inside of a bank. Grantaire was frantic to get me out of there. When I finally got out, we talked it over and Grantaire explained that he felt nothing for Alex and that I was the only man that he loved. Long story short, we are now boyfriends." Enjolras finished with a smile. "But I did ask him to continue to be patient with me since I'm still so new at this."

David nodded. "Good, that's good. I am happy for you. However, I must ask, are you feeling any trauma from being a hostage?"

Enjolras shook his head. "No. I felt a little scared, but no trauma."

"That's great. But you will let me know if you do start to feel anything of the sort." David said, writing something down in the file.

"Of course." Enjolras replied.

Enjolras' appointment continued for another 10 minutes before David called their meeting to a close. Then, they scheduled their next meeting for the next week, same place at the same time.

***

After his appointment, Enjolras went back to the precinct. When he walked out of the elevator and into the bullpen, it was to the surprise of seeing his boyfriend and best friend in the middle of a contest to see who could balance a pencil on their nose the longest. It looked like his boyfriend was winning, so far.

"Shouldn't you be doing paperwork?" He asked, walking up to his desk. If he had hoped it would distract Grantaire, he was wrong.

"Yes, but this is more fun." Grantaire continued to balance the pencil. Enjolras raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look that he couldn't see. "I know the look you're giving me, but Javert hasn't even noticed, plus it's been slow as fuck."

"Yeah, Enjy, lighten up. Or do you need a certain part of Grantaire's anatomy inside of you to do that." He teased.

Enjolras scowled at his best friend as his face flushed red. "Fine. Continue your contest. I'll just be sitting here doing paperwork."

His boyfriend and best friend both gave him a thumbs up. Enjolras rolled his eyes, sitting down at his desk.

Their contest continued with raising the stakes to two pencils. The winner had to buy the other a soda every day for a week. Enjolras watched them with annoyed fondness as he sat there doing paperwork. They always had contests like this, and every time, Enjolras hoped that Javert would catch them in the act, even if he secretly hoped that Grantaire would win each time.

Finally, after about an hour and a half, Courfeyrac's pencils started to fall until they both fell to the floor. Grantaire punched the sky in celebration, all while he still kept his pencils balanced. His pencils stayed balanced for another 10 minutes until they fell off as well. Afterward, Courfeyrac called for a rematch, but Grantaire refused.

"Nope, I won. Fair and square. Now go and buy me a soda." Grantaire said, shooing him away.

Courfeyrac stood up, a pout on his face, to go to the soda machine to get Grantaire his soda. Grantaire chuckled before turning to his boyfriend.

"So, I won, what do I get from you?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras raised an eyebrow. "Nothing."

"Oh, come on, I know you were secretly hoping that I would win." Grantaire said.

"I don’t know what you're talking about." Enjolras said, turning back to the paperwork.

Grantaire let the subject drop. "So, how did the appointment go?"

Enjolras shrugged. "About the same as usual."

"Is that good or bad?" Grantaire asked.

"Good." Enjolras said.

Grantaire smiled, but didn't say anymore. If this therapist was helping Enjolras, then he couldn't really say anything. All the other therapists that his boyfriend had had never really helped in the way he needed it before, this one clearly way. Grantaire couldn't be happier for him.

"So, babe, what other thing did you want to do tonight?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras shrugged before smiling. "I don't know. As long as the night ends with you in my bed, doing unspeakable things to me, I don't really care what we do."

Grantaire blushed bright red. "Oh, trust me, baby, I will be making you scream tonight. They will hear you in New Jersey."

"Can't wait." Enjolras' smile was so suggestive that Grantaire wanted nothing more than to kiss it off, but despite Enjolras breaking the rule more than once that day, he didn't want to risk it any more than what he already had.

***

Later, when their shift was over, thankfully, no calls had come in. The boyfriends left the precinct with Grantaire agreeing to walk Enjolras home. When they arrived, Enjolras turned to him. Grantaire wrapped his arms around his waist.

"I'll be back in an hour, darling."

Enjolras smiled and pressed their lips together.

As they kissed, they heard someone shutter in disgust. Grantaire pulled away from the kiss to glare at the women.

"What's your problem?" Grantaire asked.

"You are. What you are is unnatural." The woman said.

Enjolras wrapped a hand around Grantaire's elbow. He pulled him against him. "Love, just let it go. She's not worth it."

Grantaire shook his head. "Fine, but newsflash, it's 2018. Two men kiss. Two women kiss. It's time to build a bridge and get over it."

The women glared as she walked away in a huff. Grantaire turned back to Enjolras. He was flushed with anger. He looked up at Enjolras with piercing green eyes and wrapped his arms back around Enjolras' waist.

"I'm sorry, I just—why do people have to be like that? We're in love, we're men. What's the big deal?" Grantaire asked.

"I don't know, love. But let's not worry about that." Enjolras kissed his forehead. "Instead, let's focus on the fact that we have our first official date tonight, okay? It's going to be great. We're going to have a great time and nothing is going to ruin it, alright?"

"Alright." Grantaire kissed him again. When he pulled away, he reached for Enjolras' hand. "I'll be back in an hour." He brought the hand up to his mouth to kiss the back. "I love you."

"I love you."

He let go of Enjolras's hand, turned, and walked away. Enjolras watched him walk away until he couldn't see him anymore. He walked into his building with a smile on his face.

Once he was in his apartment, Enjolras went straight for his bedroom to start looking through his clothing for what would be perfect first date material. They were going to the theatre. His parents had always taught him to dress nicely for the theatre, but he didn't to be too dressed up or overdressed. He hand ended up choosing a very nice pair of jeans and a red flannel button down shirt.

After finding what he would be wearing, Enjolras quickly showered, and then got dressed. He spritzed some cologne. Then, went into the kitchen to wait for Grantaire's return. While he waited, Enjolras took a handful of grapes from the refrigerator.

He had just finished chewing the last grape when there was a knock on the door. Enjolras went to open it and when he saw his boyfriend, he smiled widely.

"Hello, there." Grantaire greeted.

"Hi."

Grantaire gave him a quick kiss. "You ready to head out." He held out his hand, Enjolras took it, and they left the apartment. Enjolras locked the door, then turned back to Grantaire. "And for dinner. I made reservations at the Hard Rock Café, knowing how much you love it."

Enjolras pressed another kiss to his boyfriend's lips. When they pulled away, they laced their hands together again.

***

They made their way towards Times Square using the subway. After reaching and making their way to Hard Rock, they got their table and sat down to eat. Enjolras ordered what he always did when he went there. Twisted Mac and Cheese. Grantaire just got one of the many Legendary Burgers. After their dinner, they shared a hot fudge brownie for dessert.

After they finished eating, Grantaire paid the bill before they headed toward the Nederlander Theatre. As they got closer, Grantaire looked over at Enjolras, who with every step towards the theatre, lit up like a Christmas tree. Grantaire knew that going to the Nederlander was a special place for his boyfriend because before Mathieu had left for his first year of college, he had taken Enjolras to see _RENT_ there.

Enjolras still had the _RENT_ window card up in his room at his apartment. He also still had the t-shirt, but it was worn, faded, and there were plenty of holes. Enjolras considered _RENT_ his favorite musical for the sentimental value it had and the connection to his brother, but it was also incredibly difficult to watch or listen to because of that connection.

They reached the entrance of the theatre around 7:45 and started making their way through the lobby. Their tickets were scanned and they were led to their seats, and then waited the rest of the time for the show to start. It started promptly at eight and wasn’t over until about 10:45. Before they left the theatre, Grantaire had disappeared from Enjolras' side to run to table that sold merchandise, then he made his way back to Enjolras and they left the theatre.

As they walked down the sidewalk, Enjolras noticed the plastic bag with _Pretty Woman_ written on the side in Grantaire's hand.

"What's that?" Enjolras asked.

"You'll find out when we get back to your apartment." Grantaire smiled. "So, what did you think?"

"It was good. Enjoyed the music. The story and dialogue didn't stray too far from the movie, though, which was to be expected." Enjolras said.

Grantaire nodded. "Favorite song?"

Enjolras quickly checked the Playbill. "You and I" or "Long Way Home."

Grantaire smiled before placing his head on Enjolras' shoulder. "I love you."

Enjolras pressed a kiss to his boyfriend's curls and wrapped an arm around his shoulders as they made their way to the subway.

***

After arriving back at the apartment, Enjolras unlocked the door and walked in. Enjolras took off his jacket and set his keys on the table. He quickly put the Playbill in its binder before walking to the kitchen where Grantaire was waiting.

"Alright, what did you get?" Enjolras questioned.

Grantaire grinned. "Well, since I know you have an array of theatre mugs." He pointed to the tree of mugs that was near the coffee machine. "I figured you could add another."

Grantaire handed him the box to open. Once it was open, Enjolras pulled the red mug from the box. He looked at it and saw that it had the _Pretty Woman_ logo on the side. He smiled at Grantaire.

"Thank you. I love it." Enjolras went to put the mug on the tree in an empty spot. He was running out of space on it and would need a new one soon.

Enjolras walked back to Grantaire, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissed him, deeply. As they kissed, Grantaire wrapped his arms around his waist, resting his hands on Enjolras' ass. When he squeezed it, Enjolras moaned into his mouth.

Grantaire pulled away. "I think I made a promise that I would make you scream."

Enjolras smiled. "I think you did."

Grantaire grabbed his hand and led him toward the bedroom. He sat down on the bed and pulled Enjolras toward him, who sat down on his lap. Grantaire's fingers worked the buttons open on his lover's shirt. With every button undone, he pressed a kiss to every inch of revealed skin.

"God, baby, you're so beautiful." Grantaire said, pushing the button down off his shoulders. As he kissed Enjolras' collarbone, Grantaire undid the belt buckle and unbuttoned Enjolras' jeans. Then, his fingers found their way into Enjolras' boxers and he started stroking him. Enjolras let out a deep moan. Grantaire stroked the cock as Enjolras worked Grantaire's clothes off of him.

"You know, love—ahh." Enjolras breathed as Grantaire's thumb ran over his slit. "You say that I'm beautiful, but have you ever looked at yourself. You're so hot. So, so hot. Ahh! And I can't believe that you're all mine."

Grantaire's free hand tangled in Enjolras' hair as he pulled him down for a kiss. His other hand still stroking the cock. Enjolras moaned into his mouth. His hand moved faster, but he pulled his hand away before Enjolras could come.

"You're such a tease." Enjolras said into his neck.

"I'm nowhere near down with you. I said I was going to make you scream, so that they hear you in Jersey, and I'm making good on that promise." Grantaire stood up, pushing down Enjolras down on the bed. He quickly scrambled up, so his head was laying on the pillows. Grantaire finished removing the rest of their clothing. He climbed back over Enjolras' body. "I'm going to fuck you so good that you won't be able to walk properly for days." He kissed Enjolras, and then started to kiss every inch of bare skin that was available to him, leaving marks all over his lover's body.

Enjolras let out moans and sighs with every trail of his lips. "God, your mouth."

Grantaire smiled as he kissed his lover's hip bones. After giving all the attention that he could to the bare skin of his lover's body, he brought his mouth to his lover's cock and took it into his mouth.

Enjolras threw his head back and moaned as his fingers found their way into Grantaire's curls. Grantaire swiped his tongue over Enjolras' cock. Enjolras' fingers pulled at the curls and scratched at his scalp. Grantaire looked up at him through his lashes and saw that his boyfriend had his eyes closed and back arched. He smiled as he continued to suck at the beautiful cock.

"'Taire, please!" Enjolras begged as Grantaire ran his tongue over the slit. His hips jilted, but Grantaire held him down as he continued to suck. "Fuck!"

Grantaire pulled his mouth away from the cock and instead replaced his mouth with his hand, while he moved his mouth to Enjolras'. He stroked Enjolras fast until cum was coming all over his hand. He rolled over to lay next to Enjolras after riding his boyfriend through the orgasm. He brought his hand to his mouth, Enjolras looked at him, intrigued. Grantaire, then proceeded to lick every inch of cum from his hand, his eyes locked with Enjolras' as he did.

Enjolras whined at the sight. After Grantaire was done, Enjolras yanked him to bring his mouth to his and kissed Grantaire, roughly.

"'Taire, fuck me. Please, fuck me." Enjolras said into his mouth. "I need your cock inside of me."

Grantaire kissed him again to grab the lube and a condom. When Enjolras saw the foil in his hand, he quickly ripped it from his hand.

"What?" Grantaire asked, confused.

"No condom. I just need to feel your bare cock inside of me, if only once. I swear that I'm clean. I get tested regularly." Enjolras told him.

Grantaire locked eyes with Enjolras. "I'm clean, too, but babe, this is a great deal of trust that you're giving me."

"I trust you. I do."

"I know, but for me, doing this with nothing in between us will mean that I can never use a condom when we have sex again."

Enjolras beamed. "That's fine with me. Love, we're exclusive, aren't we?"

"Yes, of course."

"Then, we have nothing to worry about it. We'll continue to get tested every six months, or every three, if we have too. So, what do you say, 'Taire?" Enjolras asked, almost vibrating with excitement.

"I say to hell with condoms." Grantaire took the condom out of Enjolras' hand and throwing it to the floor before kissing his boyfriend again.

Enjolras was still kissing him as he spread his legs. Grantaire moaned into his mouth as he felt Enjolras' movement. He scrambled to be sitting in between his lover's legs.

Grantaire had to bite his lip to keep from whimpering. The sight of his boyfriend, lying on the bed, his curls spread out on the blood red sheets, lustful and loving eyes gazing at him, matched with a loving smile. Then, his legs spread, revealing the entrance that Grantaire loved so much already. It was enough to do him in. He licked his lips, locked eyes once again with Enjolras, who nodded. Grantaire reached for the lube. He squeezed some on his fingers before pushing one into Enjolras, whose eyes fell closed again and hands fisted in the sheets with a moan.

"God, love." Enjolras said. His head fell to the side as the finger was moved around inside of his body.

Grantaire soon entered a second finger and a third. Enjolras' moans and whimpers grew louder with every movement of his fingers, but they were nowhere near as loud as Grantaire knew his lover could be. He realized that Enjolras was holding back.

"I'm supposed to be making you scream, baby, and yet, you're holding back on me. What do I have to do to make you scream?" Grantaire hooked his fingers inside of Enjolras before pushing them in even more. He knew when he reached his prostate because he got the scream that he wanted out of Enjolras. "That's it. That's my baby."

Grantaire continued to open Enjolras up until he was sure that he was prepped enough. He pulled out his fingers causing a whine to escape from Enjolras. He quickly slicked his cock up and lined it up with Enjolras' entrance. Enjolras wrapped his legs around Grantaire's waist as Grantaire slowly pushed inside of his lover.

"Fuck! That feels perfect!" Enjolras wrapped his arms around Grantaire's torso.

Once Grantaire was fully inside of Enjolras, he paused. "'Jolras, you're so warm and tight. So perfect wrapped around me."

Enjolras kissed him. "Move, love. Please."

Grantaire started to thrust his hips. Slow and smooth with a mix of rough and shallow thrusts. Which made his Enjolras go wild.

"Yes!" Enjolras said. "Fuck me."

Grantaire made a mark on the side of Enjolras' neck as he continued to move his hips, which gave him another beautiful moan from his mouth. "Come on, love. Louder."

"Then, fuck me harder and deeper." Enjolras begged.

Grantaire drastically changed his pace. No more slow and smooth thrusts. Only hard and deep thrusts. He wanted his lover to scream.

"Oh, fuck, yes! Yes!" Enjolras screamed. "Fuck!"

Grantaire smiled. He was getting there. But Enjolras was always vocal during sex, and he knew that he could be louder. "Louder, baby. Right now, you're only waking the neighbors."

"Well, then fuck me." Enjolras demanded. "No more of this slow shit. Give me deep, hard, fast, and rough."

"Your wish is my command." Grantaire sat up on his feet and placed his hands on Enjolras' hips. He once again changed his thrusts, but this time, he was pounding into Enjolras. Pulling all the way before driving back in, so hard that there was a slap of skin.

"Shit! Yes! Just like that!" Enjolras let out the scream that Grantaire wanted.

Grantaire continued to pound into Enjolras. It was perfect. He could see sweat on his lover's body and his knuckles were turning white from their tight grip in the sheets. But he made a promise and he was going to keep it.

"Hmm, babe, you gave me what I needed, but I need to ask one small thing." Grantaire said as his thrusts continued. Enjolras only let out a very loud moan in reply. "Can you come on just my cock?" He moved his cock at an angle to reach his lover's sweet spot, and Enjolras gave him another beautiful, loud moan. "I'll take that as a yes."

Grantaire continued with his movements until Enjolras was screaming that he was going to come.

"Then, come, baby." Grantaire said as he continued to pound into him.

He had only gotten three more thrusts in before cum was ejecting from Enjolras' cock and over their chest. Enjolras let out the perfect mixture of a moan and a scream as his orgasm hit.

"Yes, baby, just like that." Grantaire changed his thrusts for the last time to slow and gently thrusts to help Enjolras through his orgasm. He sweetly kissed Enjolras.

It wasn't long after that Grantaire's own orgasm came and cum was releasing inside of his boyfriend. Enjolras sighed, softly. Enjolras cupped Grantaire's to kiss him. When he pulled away, Enjolras was beaming from ear to ear. He moved his sweaty curls that were sticking to his forehead behind his ear.

"How was that, 'Jolras?" Grantaire asked.

"Perfect." They kissed again.

Grantaire pulled out of Enjolras and rolled over to the side of the bed grab his shirt. He wiped them of Enjolras' cum before lying back down. He turned to face Enjolras, who was still lying on his back.

"I love you, so much." Grantaire affirmed.

Enjolras glanced at him before turning to face him. He cupped Grantaire's face and started to run his thumb over his cheekbone, softly. "I love you, too. You wouldn't believe how much."

"Oh, I think I do." Grantaire leaned forward to kiss him.

Then, they just laid there in the afterglow as sweat dried on their bodies. Just sharing lazy touches and kissed. Smiles plastered to their faces in content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Deep down Enjolras is a sucker for romantic comedies, you can rip this headcanon out of my cold, dead fingers.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Over the next few weeks, everything was wonderful. At work, and in their relationship. Enjolras didn't think anything could be better until he got home from work that day to find Combeferre already home with Italian takeout ready and waiting.

"I thought you were spending the night with Courf." Enjolras said as he put his gun and badge in the safe.

Combeferre shrugged. "We decided to go to our respective homes for the night. Where's R?"

"At his place. We decided the same thing. Neither one of us have seen our roommates much." Enjolras replied.

Combeferre chuckled before he grew serious. "Well, I think you'll be seeing me only at work."

"What do you mean?" Enjolras asked.

"Courf asked me to move in with him." Combeferre told his best friend. "And I told him, yes."

Enjolras looked away from his friend. "Oh, I see."

"Is that a problem?" Combeferre asked.

Enjolras shook his head, turning to face his friend. "No, no problem at all. I had suspected that he was going to from all the hints he had been dropping. I'm so happy for you, 'Ferre."

"Now, you can ask Grantaire to move in with you." Combeferre said.

"Yeah, I guess, I can." Enjolras said. He took out his spaghetti and meatballs from the bag. He grabbed himself a glass of water before he began eating.

Combeferre watched his movement. He could tell that something was bothering his friend, but he knew better than to push. Enjolras would talk about it when he was ready.

***

Later that night, Enjolras laid on his bed, thinking about what it would be like to live with Grantaire. It was the next logical step, but he just felt that it was moving a little too fast. They had only been officially together for only a month. He felt like they needed a little bit more time before they move in together.

 _Just talk to him. Talk to Grantaire and see what he says._ Enjolras' brain told him, so he had decided that's what he would do tomorrow.

But of course, he should have known that tomorrow would bring different plans because around 2:30 in the morning, he found himself running to the bathroom and vomiting into the toilet. And for the rest of the night, the toilet was his new best friend.

The next morning, Combeferre found him with his head in the bowl as he vomited even more. Combeferre got him a glass of water. Enjolras swished the water around his mouth before spitting into the toilet bowl and flushed it. As he stood up, he realized how much his head was pounding.

"I feel terrible." Enjolras said.

Combeferre placed a hand to Enjolras' forehead. "You have a fever. Plus, it is that time of year for the flu. Brush your teeth and get back in bed. I'll be back with the thermometer."

Enjolras did as he was told and crawled back in the bed. But lying down just made his headache worse. Combeferre soon came with the thermometer and a pail, just in case it was needed. He stuck the thermometer under Enjolras' tongue and waited for the time to be up. When it was time, he plucked it from Enjolras' mouth and looked at it.

"102. Yeah, you're staying home." Combeferre said.

"But…" Enjolras started.

"No, buts." Combeferre told his best friend. He handed Enjolras his phone. "Call Javert and tell him that you aren't coming in today. Then, I'm calling R, so he can come and take care of you."

Enjolras huffed as he dialed Javert's number. When Javert picked up, he told him that he had the flu and couldn't make it in today. Javert understood and told him to get better soon. They hung up and Enjolras gave the phone to Combeferre, who called Grantaire. Enjolras buried himself in the blankets of his bed as he did so. Combeferre stood up from the bed.

 _"Hey, baby."_ Grantaire said when he answered.

"Not your baby. Your baby is currently, lying in his bed with a fever of 102." Combeferre explained to his best friend's boyfriend.

 _"Is he going to be alright?"_ Grantaire asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. But as his boyfriend and the only one who can stand him without wanting to shoot him when he's sick, you're on taking care of Enjolras duty today."

Grantaire chuckled through the phone. _"Right, I'll be over there soon."_

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Combeferre set Enjolras' phone down on his bedside table, only to notice that his friend was asleep again. Combeferre set a glass of water on the table. He left his friend's bedroom and went to go finish getting ready for the day.

***

Across the city, Grantaire got off the phone with Combeferre and called Javert, telling him that because of Enjolras being sick, he won't be coming in. Javert told him that he figured that, so he had already made the order that neither Enjolras nor Grantaire are to be bothered that day. Grantaire thanked him and hung up.

He walked into the kitchen where Jehan was. Jehan looked up when he saw him out of the corner of his eye.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Jehan asked.

Grantaire shrugged. "Enjolras is sick, so I called in. I'm going to head over there with supplies. Can you make your special chicken noodle soup, please?"

Jehan nodded and got right to work on it. "Sure thing."

"Thanks." Grantaire said. He went back into his rom and got a small duffle bag down from a shelf in his closet. He threw medicine, tissues, Enjolras' favorite blanket of his, and more into it. It wouldn't take Jehan long to finish the soup.

He quickly showered and threw on sweats. Grantaire was just throwing on his shoes when Jehan came in with the soup.

"Thanks." Grantaire said as he took it.

"Tell Enj that I made it with love and I hope he gets better soon." Jehan told his friend. "And we all need to hang out very soon.

"I'll tell him." Grantaire said as he put his phone and wallet into his back pocket before grabbing the duffle and soup and left the apartment.

He made his way to Enjolras' apartment and when he got there, he used his key to enter. When he entered, it was clear that Combeferre had left already. After walking in, he locked the door again. He set everything on the counter before walking toward Enjolras' room. Grantaire pushed the door open before stepping in. He went to sit on the bed and ran his fingers through Enjolras' hair.

Enjolras blinked a few times before opening his eyes. When he saw Grantaire, he smiled. "Hi, love."

"Hi, baby. How are you feeling?" Grantaire asked.

"Horrible. Like I got hit by a truck." Enjolras groaned.

Grantaire chuckled. "I'm sure." He kissed Enjolras' forehead. He could feel how warm his lover was. "I brought you some things." Grantaire left the room to grab the duffle. When he got back, Enjolras was sitting up. "I brought Ibuprofen." He took bottle and set it on the table. "Tissues." He set the tissues on the table. "That blanket of mine that you love so much." He wrapped the blanket around Enjolras, who gave him a small smile. "And I had Jehan make his special chicken noodle soup. He told me to tell you that he made it with love and he hopes that you feel better soon."

Enjolras smiled and asked for his phone, so that he could text Jehan.

_**Enjolras (11:22 A.M.): Thank you for the soup.** _

_**Jehan (11:23 A.M.): You're welcome, love. Get better soon. X** _

"Do I get to eat it?" Enjolras asked.

Grantaire smiled. "After a while. Right now, you're going to rest more. Then, when you wake up, you can eat it."

Enjolras frowned. "Cuddle me? You know how much I love your cuddles when I'm sick."

Grantaire blushed bright red. "Of course."

Grantaire stood up and walked around to get in on the other side of the bed. He crawled under the cover and pulled Enjolras to him.

"You’re burning up, 'Jolras." There was concern in Grantaire's voice.

"I'll be fine." Enjolras said as he wrapped an arm around Grantaire. He laid his head over Grantaire's heart.

Grantaire chuckled. "You always were the worst patient. Even in college."

Enjolras smiled, but didn't reply. Instead, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Grantaire kept talking until he realized that Enjolras' breathing had even out. He smiled down at him before wrapping his arms tighter around his boyfriend and followed him to sleep.

***

When Enjolras woke up, he had no idea what time it was. He knew it was still light out because the sun was shining through the curtains, but that was his only clue. He tried to move, but then realized that there was something pinning him down on his bed. Enjolras looked down and saw an arm wrapped around his waist. He turn his head to see black curls, and the face of Grantaire behind him. He grinned before doing his best to turn in his arms. He watched Grantaire sleep.

"Stop being creepy." Grantaire said with his eyes closed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Enjolras feigned innocence.

"The staring." Grantaire pointed out.

Enjolras shook his head. "I wasn't staring."

"Sure you were." Grantaire teased.

Enjolras chuckled, but it turned into a cough. Grantaire looked at him concerned.

"Do you want the soup now?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras nodded. "I'll eat in the kitchen." He sat up and pulled the covers away from his body.

"Are you sure." Grantaire said as he got up from the bed.

Enjolras nodded as he stood up and a wave of dizziness hit him. Grantaire reached out to steady him. "I'm fine."

They made their way out of the bedroom, Grantaire following after him. Enjolras sat down on the couch and wrapped the blanket that was hanging over it around him. Grantaire made his way to the kitchen to heat up the soup. When that was done, he brought the bowl over to Enjolras. Enjolras started eating it slowly. Grantaire sat down next to him. He grabbed the remote and turned the TV on.

After a while, Enjolras was done eating the soup. "Instead of a teacher, Jehan really should be a chef." He set the bowl on the table.

Grantaire chuckled, but didn't say anything. He situated himself, so Enjolras could lay between his legs. He then wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist.

Enjolras looked up at Grantaire, whose attention was focused on the TV. He grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together. Enjolras remembered that he needed to talk to Grantaire about the living situation.

"'Taire." Enjolras got Grantaire's attention.

"Hmm. What’s up? You comfortable?" Grantaire asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but we need to talk about something." Enjolras said, moving out of his lover's arms and sat up.

"Okay, what's going on?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras sighed and reach for Grantaire's hands and played with his fingers. "'Ferre told me that Courf asked him to move in with him last night."

"That's great." Grantaire said. "But I'm not really seeing the dilemma."

Enjolras sighed. "He said something about me asking you to move in here."

"I see. And what you don't want to ask me?"

"No, I do. It's clearly the next logical step, but we've only been together a month." Enjolras said.

"And you just don't feel ready for that, yet?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras nodded. "I love you, Grantaire, you know that. And I do want to live with you, but…"

"Babe, you don't need to justify it. I understand." Grantaire told him. "When we got together, you asked me to continue being patient with you, and I agreed." Enjolras looked at him. "'Jolras, listen to me. Yes, I spend a couple nights here a week, but if you aren't ready to make it permanent, that's okay. I can live with just a few drawers for the time being, okay?"

"Okay." Enjolras smiled.

Grantaire returned the smile and nodded. "I love you." He leaned toward Enjolras, but his love placed a hand on his chest.

"Not when I'm sick. I don't want to get you sick." Enjolras told him.

"I'm willing to risk it."

Enjolras shook his head. "I'm not."

"Fine." He instead pressed a kiss to Enjolras' cheek.

He wrapped his arms around Enjolras, who moved back to lay in between his boyfriend's legs. They continued to watch TV until Enjolras grew tired again. They moved back into his bedroom. Grantaire got a pair of his pajama pants from one of the drawers that he had. He put them on and climbed in next to Enjolras. Enjolras curled into him the moment he was comfortable.

"How are you feeling?" Grantaire asked. Placing a kiss to the top of Enjolras' head.

Enjolras simply shrugged before saying. "Wonderful. I'm lying next to the man I love." He pressed a kiss to Grantaire's chest.

"I mean sick wise." Grantaire told him.

"Okay, I feel fine. Hopefully, I can go to work tomorrow." Enjolras said.

Grantaire nodded. He was just about to say something when he noticed that Enjolras' breathing had evened out again. His love was sound asleep again.

He pressed a kiss to the curls again before whispering. "I love you, you silly man."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you again on Monday! The story is reaching the end!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As my treat, and because this week is going to be incredibly busy, I'm going to give the last five chapters tonight.
> 
> Disclaimer: You know the drill.

Two weeks later, it was time for a movie night for Enjolras, Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Jehan, and Joly. It was being held at Enjolras' apartment. Combeferre was officially all moved in at Courfeyrac's. Grantaire mostly spent his free time at Enjolras', but he also went home enough to remind themselves that they weren't living together, yet.

Enjolras stood in the kitchen, next to the microwave, popping the popcorn. Grantaire was in the living room, making sure everything was set up. Once that was done, Grantaire went into the kitchen and wrapped his arms around Enjolras' waist.

"Everything's set up, baby." Grantaire started to kiss Enjolras' neck.

"Good. Popcorn is almost done." Enjolras replied.

Grantaire glanced at the clock. "You know, babe, we have 20 minutes."

"No." Enjolras said, his tone firm. "No sex in the kitchen. Can you imagine Joly if he ever found out?"

Grantaire let out a disappointed sigh as he sagged against Enjolras. "It doesn't have to be actual sex. I can just suck you off."

Enjolras turned in his lover's arms. "Love, I want to, you have no idea how bad I want to, but I don't want to scar Joly for life."

"Fine." Grantaire looked at him with sad and pleading eyes with a pout on his lips which of course did Enjolras in.

Which is how they found themselves, Enjolras sitting on one of the barstools on the living room side of the island, Grantaire on his knees in front of him with his boyfriend's cock in his mouth. Enjolras' hands were in Grantaire's curls and his head was thrown back in ecstasy.

Grantaire's mouth moved over his cock and he let out a loud moan. "More, love."

They were so distracted by the pleasure and passion of it all that they didn't hear the door open and their friends walk in until they were already in the living room.

"Seriously, guys! As happy as we are for you, have some decency." Combeferre cried out in horror. His hands covering his eyes. Courfeyrac was watching with a smirk and Joly and Jehan were squeezing their eyes shut.

They scrambled to stand up. Enjolras quickly tucked himself back in and zipped up his jeans.

"Sorry." Grantaire apologized.

"There's a perfectly good bedroom, twenty feet away. Use it." Combeferre said. He had opened his eyes. He took off his jacket and set his bag down.

Enjolras looked at his best friend with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Do I need to remind you of the time that I walked in here to find you and Courf on the couch, and he was…?"

"La, la, la." Jehan said, loudly. He had also opened his eyes.

Grantaire turned to Jehan. "As if you and Joly are any better."

Jehan stuck his tongue out.

Combeferre rolled his eyes and glared at Enjolras. "Fine, we're even."

"Are they decent?" Joly asked, who was still squeezing his eyes shut.

Courfeyrac couldn't help the laughter that busted out of him. "Yes, they're decent. If not, incredibly embarrassed."

Enjolras and Grantaire blushed bright red like a lobster as they made their way into the kitchen.

"Please wash your hands!" Joly cried.

They washed their hands before Enjolras took care of the popcorn. Grantaire brought the drinks out while Enjolras brought the popcorn out and set it on the table.

Everyone got themselves arranged, Combeferre and Courfeyrac had claimed the loveseat. Joly and Jehan claimed the floor. Grantaire claimed the couch for himself and Enjolras.

"Alright, we have." Enjolras picked up the pile of movies. Each of them always brought a movie, and then they decided which one. They knew who brought what by putting their name on a sticky note and placed it on the case. " _V for Vendetta_ brought by 'Taire. _Love Actually_ brought by Joly. _Beetlejuice_ brought by Jehan. _The Lion King_ brought by Courf." The look he gave Courfeyrac was laughable.

"What? It's a classic." Courfeyrac defended his choice.

"'Ferre, I hope you realize that you are dating a five year-old." Enjolras said.

"I do, and I don't care." Combeferre gave Courfeyrac a kiss.

Enjolras rolled his eyes before going back to reading the titles. " _The Woman in Black_ brought by 'Ferre. And my choice is _Edward Scissorhands_." He set them all down again. "Alright, you all know what everyone brought, what's everyone's first choice?"

Five voices said in unison, " _V for Vendetta_ " while Courfeyrac said. " _The Lion King_ "

After hearing what Courfeyrac said, there was a collective. "No!"

Courfeyrac sunk into the loveseat and pouted. Combeferre patted his shoulder.

Enjolras took the movie out of its case and put it in the DVD player. As the movie started up, he grabbed the remote and went to go and sit on the couch to cuddle with Grantaire.

"So, Enj, how is the wedding coming?" Joly asked.

"Good. They'll definitely have everything ready for April." Enjolras said.

"Why did they decide on April again?" Courfeyrac asked.

"Because they wanted to get married when the cherry blossoms were blooming in D.C., plus Marius' family was only going allow them to marry in D.C." Enjolras explained.

"His family is so controlling." Jehan rolled his eyes.

"It was more so his grandfather than anything else." Enjolras replied.

But before anyone could say anything, the title menu popped up and Enjolras hit play. The movie started and they all settled in to watch their movie.

Their movie night continued. After _V for Vendetta,_ they put in _The Woman in Black_. After _The Woman in Black_ , a movie that had Courfeyrac hiding his face in Combeferre's chest a good majority of the time. They had all laughed at him and took pity on him to allow _The Lion King_ be the next movie they watched next. They had agreed to order pizza before they watched it though.

They ordered two large pepperoni, and since Joly was a vegetarian, a small vegetable pizza. The pizza would arrive soon and they started to watch _The Lion King._

After their pizza arrived, and then after _The Lion King_ , they put in _Beetlejuice_ , but during that movie, Joly was starting to nod off as was Combeferre.

"Alright, I think we're calling it a night." Jehan said, helping Joly to his feet. "R, just bring back our two movies." And with that, Jehan and Joly made their leave. Combeferre and Courfeyrac left very soon after.

The boyfriends finished watching _Beetlejuice_ before cleaning up the pizza boxes and popcorn bowls. They were just about to go to bed themselves when their phone went off simultaneously.

Grantaire grabbed his and sighed. "Let's go."

"In the city that never sleeps, crime doesn't either." Enjolras said as he grabbed his jacket, badge, and gun before they left the apartment to head to their crime scene.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: You know the drill.

April came quickly and Cosette's wedding was that upcoming Friday. Grantaire was Enjolras' date to the wedding because who else was it going to be.

In the last six months, everything had been great. The wall was pretty much all the way down, but every once in a while, Enjolras would put it up as a defense mechanism. He had had it for so long that putting it up was like second nature for him. But then, he would talk to his therapist, who would in turn tell him to talk to Grantaire. Their relationship was much stronger because of that fact, but Enjolras still didn't feel ready for Grantaire to move in.

In the meantime, they were at Enjolras' place. Enjolras walked into his bedroom after taking a shower. Grantaire was sitting on the bed with his phone in his hand. He looked up when he saw Enjolras come out and grinned at him. Enjolras quickly dried himself off before pulling on boxers and pajama pants.

"Why is that after a shower you look hotter than before you went in?" Grantaire asked, giving his boyfriend a once over.

Enjolras blushed before walking to Grantaire. He leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. Grantaire placed a hand on Enjolras' hip as he deepened the kiss. Enjolras smiled widely against his lips as he straddled Grantaire's lap, not breaking the kiss. Grantaire quickly switched positions, so that Enjolras was lying underneath him. Grantaire pulled away from Enjolras' neck before leaving a bruise on his neck. His boyfriend let out a moan that urged Grantaire on. He continued kissing down Enjolras' chest before moving back up to his lips.

Enjolras pulled away. "Love, I just had a shower and it's been a long day. How about pressing pause?"

"You're right, sorry." Grantaire rolled to lay on the bed next to Enjolras.

"It's okay." Enjolras told him as his hand went to the area where Grantaire had sucked another love bite on his neck. Grantaire leaned over to press a chaste kiss to Enjolras' lips.

"I've been meaning to ask you something, babe." Grantaire told Enjolras, who nodded. "Okay, so obviously I'm your date to Cosette's wedding. But I just want to ask if we'll be riding the same plane together?" Grantaire picked up on how Enjolras got tense at the question. "Babe?"

Enjolras looked at his boyfriend and sighed. "My parents are going down on Thursday and they wanted me to go with them. That's why I asked for Wednesday to Monday off. I'm staying at my parent's house on Wednesday night. So, we kind of…can't. Sorry."

Grantaire sighed. "I see."

"My parents asked me a few weeks ago, but I didn't have the heart to tell you. Although, I could call and ask them, if you can come with us? My parents love you, so that shouldn't be a problem."

"Okay."

"I'm so nervous for this wedding though."

"Why?"

"Because of Mathieu." Enjolras said, wrapping his arms around himself.

Grantaire looked at his boyfriend. "What about Mathieu?"

"Because I haven't seen most of my family since his funeral, specifically my grandparents on my father's side." Enjolras explained.

"Why?" Grantaire asked.

"They blame me for Mathieu's death. At the wake, they just kept on saying things about how if it weren't for me, Mathieu would still be alive. Mathieu was their favorite grandchild." Enjolras explained. "And because of that I don't really go to any family functions anymore."

Grantaire felt rage in the pit of his stomach at his boyfriend's family. He reached for Enjolras' hand. "'Jolras…" Grantaire saw that tears had started to form in his boyfriend's eyes. "Baby, look at me." Enjolras looked at him, and Grantaire wiped a tear away. "Mathieu's death was not your fault. I thought we had moved past the guilt."

Enjolras sighed. "We had, but every time I think about all the family that I'll see at the wedding, I feel it all over again. I just told you what they kept telling me at the wake."

Grantaire looked at Enjolras, sadness in his eyes. "And yet, you were the one to put his murderers behind bars. That must've counted for something."

Enjolras snorted. "Oh, yeah, totally. When I told them, the only thing that they said was that I never would have had to put Magnus behind bars if I hadn't called Mathieu that night. They blame me and they always will." Enjolras sighed again and placed his head in his hands. "It doesn't help that they are also homophobic, so seeing me there with you, will boil their blood even more."

"Baby." Grantaire took both of Enjolras' hand in his again. "I don't care about them. I care about you. I am your date to the wedding, and there's not a damn thing that they can do about it. If you think that I'm going to allow the family of the man that I am so deeply in love with be blamed for something he had no control over, you are sadly mistaken."

"Okay." Enjolras kissed Grantaire. "I love you."

***

The next day, Grantaire went to talk to Javert about asking for the same time off as Enjolras.

Javert nodded. "I figured that it would happen, so I had already given it to you anyway. Besides, you, Enjolras, and Courfeyrac have enough vacation and sick days built up where you could probably take a whole two months off."

"Thanks." Grantaire said before walking out. He walked into the bullpen and to their desks. His boyfriend, who was supposed to be working on paperwork, looked distracted. "Hey, we're all good to go. Did you talk to your parents?"

"They said they'd be happy to have you." Enjolras said, looking away from his boyfriend.

"Hey, you okay?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras nodded. "I'm fine. We have a lot of paperwork to finish before we leave, so let's get to it."

***

After work, they drove to Greenwich Village (the precinct and Enjolras' apartment were both in Chelsea), which was the neighborhood where Enjolras' parents lived. With every mile toward his parents, Grantaire could feel Enjolras stiffen more and more. Grantaire reached over and gave his boyfriend's hand a reassuring squeeze for comfort. Enjolras gave him a weak smile.

They arrived at the house that Enjolras grew up in. When they got out, Enjolras stared at the house. It was always hard for him to come back home since the memory of Mathieu was still so strong inside the house, even after 13 years.

Grantaire walked around the car, noticing the look of nervousness and cupped his lover's face. "It's going to be alright, love." He pressed a small kiss to his lips and laced their fingers together and leading him to the trunk of the car.

As they get their bags out, Enjolras heard the door open and his mother's squeal.

"Jules!" Isabelle ran down the front porch steps and wrapped her arms tightly around him before he could even let go of Grantaire's hand.

"Hi, Mom." Enjolras said into her neck. She started to squeeze him tight, cutting off his air supply. "Mom, you're squeezing me. I can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry." Isabelle said. She pulled away from him and saw Grantaire standing next to him. "And Grantaire, you're as handsome as ever." She quickly hugged him.

"Hello, Mrs. Enjolras." Grantaire said as he pulled away.

"Grantaire, its Isabelle for the thousandth time." Isabelle told him.

Gabriel moved to hug his son. "You look good, Jules."

"Thanks, Dad." Enjolras said.

Isabelle linked her arm with Enjolras' after grabbing his bag, and leading him toward the house. Grantaire and Gabriel followed after them.

"How's he doing?" Gabriel asked. "I know being back here is never the easiest for him."

"Well, no nightmares, yet, but he's been so nervous for the last 48 hours." Grantaire mentioned.

Gabriel sighed. "Mathieu's death wasn't his fault."

"He knows that, but it's the fact that he'll see family members who blame him for his death that's the real problem." Grantaire explained.

"My parents. I've talked to them, but every time I say anything it goes in one ear and out the other." Gabriel turned to Grantaire. "Grantaire, I know you love my son."

"That’s right."

"Can you do me a favor?" Gabriel asked to which Grantaire nodded. "Support him as much as you can this weekend. He'll need it. I know that 'Ferre, Courf, Joly, and Jehan will be there, so that should help, too, but…" Gabriel trailed off.

"Of course." Grantaire squeezed his boyfriend's dad's shoulder.

They walked into the house and Isabelle told Grantaire that Enjolras went to go put his bag in his bedroom and that he can go on up. Isabelle was busy in the kitchen, getting the beginnings of dinner ready, Gabriel went to go and help her.

Grantaire went up the stairs, and saw Enjolras' staring at a door. Mathieu's bedroom door. Enjolras' parents hadn’t  touched his bedroom since he died. Everything was exactly as it was 13 years. Grantaire walked to his boyfriend, grabbing his hand, and pulled him forward.

"Come on, love." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras followed Grantaire to his bedroom, where they set their stuff down. Enjolras walked around the room before stopping at the bedside table where there was a picture of him, Cosette, and Mathieu when they were younger, sitting on a swing set at a park. Grantaire walked to him, wrapping his arms around his waist. He placed a kiss on his neck.

"Love, everything is going to be fine. I'm right here, and I love you." Grantaire said. Enjolras closed his eyes and let the tears fall.

He turned in Grantaire's arms and pressed their foreheads together. "I love you, so much." Enjolras leaned forward to kiss Grantaire. When Grantaire pulled away, he pressed a kiss to Enjolras' forehead.

They left the bedroom and went down the stairs. While Isabelle had gotten dinner started, she had also sat out milk and cookies. The boyfriends walked into the kitchen and sat down.

"So, how have you been lately?" Isabelle asked.

They both shrugged. "Um…alright." Grantaire said.

"And how's work?" Gabriel asked.

"As dangerous as ever." Enjolras took a bite of a cookie.

Enjolras still hadn’t told his parents about being shot all those months ago. Grantaire had been insisting that he tell them ever since he found out that his boyfriends hadn't. But Enjolras still refused too, but from the look on Grantaire's face, he knew that it was time.

"Okay, boys, what's wrong?" Gabriel asked.

Enjolras finished his cookie and took a sip of milk. "Um…Mom…Dad. I'm not telling you this to make you worry. Everything is fine now and I'm okay, but a few months back, I was shot. The bullet lodged itself near my right lung.”

Isabelle gasped. "What happened?"

"It was stupid really. The woman who did it wanted revenge on us for putting his husband in prison. She shot at me when I shot her. She was killed instantly, but I had to have surgery. Two actually. Combeferre had to perform one on the street to ensure my survival since my lung was collapsing. Then, the other was performed after I was brought to the hospital. Look, I'm sorry, for not telling you, but I just…after Mathieu." He looked over at his mother, who was crying now. Enjolras got up and walked over to her. "Mom, I'm fine, okay? I have a little scar, but that's it. I'm not going anywhere. I'm so sorry for not telling you."

Isabelle looked up at her son and cupped her face. "I know, Jules, it's just....your line of work is so dangerous. It worries me constantly."

"I know, Mom, but I'm careful. Grantaire always has my back and I have his." Enjolras looked back at his boyfriend. "Mom, I promise nothing is ever going to happen to me."

Enjolras was going to do whatever he could keep that promise. She had already lost one child, she wasn't losing another one. He hugged his mother again when she had stopped crying and moved back to sit next to Grantaire. Grantaire reached for his hand under the table and squeezed it. Gabriel noticed the small smile between the two of them, but didn't say anything.

"Alright, so I have dinner started. After we eat though, it's off to bed for the both of you. We leave bright and early in the morning." Isabelle said to the boyfriends.

"Yes, Mom." Enjolras said.

Isabelle stood up to finish making dinner while Enjolras talked with his dad. Grantaire let go of Enjolras' hand and stood up from the table. He walked around the house and found himself looking at a hallway of pictures.

One picture he noticed was a picture of Enjolras as a child, and his heart melted at the sight. Enjolras couldn't have been more than five or six and was dressed in a suit and tie, holding a small briefcase. His dad was also dressed in the exact same thing that Enjolras was. Grantaire was too engrossed in the picture, he didn't hear Isabelle walk up to him.

"Enjolras was six when that picture was taken. He was Daddy's little boy at that age. He always said that he wanted to be just like Daddy." Isabelle remembered.

Grantaire walked further down the hall to another picture. It was of Enjolras and Mathieu. Enjolras looked no more than 10, Mathieu no more than 15. They were in the park and dressed in baseball gear.

"As Julien grew up, he and Mathieu became two peas in a pod. They were as close as brothers could be." Isabelle said.

"I've seen pictures before, but I'll never get over how they look so much alike." Grantaire said.

Isabelle chuckle. "Yeah, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that they could have been twins. They were mistaken as such multiple times growing up until we explained that Mathieu was five years old than Julian."

Grantaire, then noticed all the picture following Mathieu's death. He noticed how Enjolras' smile was nowhere near as bright as they were in pictures with Mathieu.

"I was so glad when he met you following Mathieu's murder. Julien had been in such a dark place. Never smiling. Never laughing. Never having fun. Then, you came along. You pulled him out of the darkness that he was living in. You somehow showed him that the guilt would slowly eat him up alive." Isabelle said.

"All I did was tell the truth." Grantaire said.

"But you broke down the walls. I've never seen Julien look at someone the way he looks at you." Isabelle said. "The look of absolute true and pure love. The look of "When I'm with you, I know nothing can harm me". I can see the same reflected back in yours. Just so you know, his father and I have always approved. From the very beginning."

Grantaire looked at her. "What do you mean?"

Isabelle smiled. "From the moment that Julien brought you home, it was obvious that he was falling in love with you, and you with him. Now, we knew that it would take a while, Jules had plenty of walls up, but like I said, you broke them down. But now, you're here with him, and you've made him so, so, so, so happy." Isabelle with a smile. "So, thank you, Grantaire."

She hugged Grantaire before going back into the kitchen. Grantaire smiled as he walked back into the kitchen where Enjolras and his father were. He sat down and gave Enjolras a kiss on the cheek. Enjolras' face lit up in a bright smile.

A smile brighter than the one that was shown in the picture of him and Mathieu.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Nope!

They drove to JFK the next day for the plane ride to D.C. Before they left the house, Gabriel had some bad news for Grantaire.

"Sorry, 'Taire, we sadly weren't able to get you a seat in first class with the rest of us. You're sadly in coach." Gabriel said.

Grantaire nodded. "No, that's fine. It was a little last minute anyway."

Enjolras looked at his boyfriend, nervousness once again appearing on his face. Grantaire walked to him.

"You'll be fine. Your parents will be right there." Grantaire pressed a kiss to his cheek.

After arriving at JFK, they went through security and had their bags checked. Then, walked to the gate. Enjolras sat down next to Grantaire, laced their fingers together before falling asleep on his boyfriend's shoulder.

He hadn't slept well the night before. Enjolras had woken up screaming about Mathieu's death. Grantaire had to comfort him afterward. He had struggled going back to sleep after that. The only thing that got him back to sleep was Grantaire humming a lullaby in his ear. Enjolras had ended up looking exhausted the next morning.

Finally, boarding started, Enjolras and his parents went before Grantaire. When Grantaire boarded the plane as he passed Enjolras, his boyfriend grabbed his hand. Grantaire squeezed it in reassurance before continuing to his seat. As the plane took off, Grantaire had fallen asleep.

He didn't wake up again until the Captain announced that they'd be landing in 20 minutes. They finished landing and as Grantaire made his way out of the tunnel, Enjolras grabbed onto him with a tight grip. They grabbed their bags from baggage claim, and the four of them piled into the car that Gabriel rented before driving to the hotel where the wedding was taking place.

Marius and Cosette greeted them at the hotel. Thankfully, Enjolras played no role in the wedding. Just the brother of the bride. His parents went with his sister and Marius, while Enjolras and Grantaire went up to their bedroom. They didn’t have to worry about meeting Marius' family or seeing the rest of Enjolras' until the rehearsal dinner later that night.

Once they got into their room, Grantaire sat down their bags while Enjolras went to look around the room. The room was a penthouse suite that look like it had been designed after the one in _Pretty Woman_. The movie, not the musical. Grantaire was overwhelmed with how nice the hotel was.

"Is this real?" He asked when he laid down on the bed in the master bedroom. The mattress was super, super soft.

Enjolras nodded. "Yes. This is the nicest hotel in D.C. This hotel is what the Plaza is to NYC. Marius' family has the money for this."

"I thought you said that his family didn't like Cosette?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras sighed. "They like Cosette just fine. They just don't like that he's marrying a girl from a family with less money than what they have. My family is wealthy yes, but this is billionaire rich."

Grantaire sat up on the bed while Enjolras climbed on the bed.

"I think that I'm going to try and get some more sleep." Enjolras said as he placed his head on a pillow and pulled the covers up to his chin.

Grantaire leaned down to kiss Enjolras' forehead. "I'll be here when you wake up. I love you."

"I love you, too." Enjolras said. He closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

***

Enjolras had been so nervous the night before that he had barely ate anything at the rehearsal dinner. Grantaire had seen the looks Enjolras' family had sent Enjolras and white hot anger had erupted inside of him. What didn't help either were the homophobic looks that both family's (Enjolras' family (his father's side, mostly) and Marius' family) had sent their way whenever they saw their hands linked, when they were dancing, or when they shared a kiss. Enjolras tried not to let it bother him, but that was easier said than done.

The morning of the wedding was very busy as the hotel made the last minute preparations. Enjolras went with Grantaire to breakfast at the café near the hotel with Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Joly, and Jehan, who had all arrived the night before.

During their breakfast, they talked about everything and anything as long as it wasn't about the wedding. After that, Grantaire did his best to keep Enjolras distracted and not let him dwell on his family. Then, finally at three in the afternoon, it was time for the ceremony to start.

Enjolras and Grantaire sat with their friends during the ceremony. Enjolras had his hand laced with his boyfriend's for the majority of it. It was a beautiful ceremony with Marius and Cosette looking as happy as could be. As Enjolras sat there watching it, he realized that this is something that he wanted with Grantaire. He wanted to call Grantaire his husband. He wanted their relationship to last until they were old, gray, and wrinkled. He wanted Grantaire to be his always and forever. With that thought in his mind, Enjolras squeezed Grantaire's hand, who looked over at him with a smile.

Once the ceremony was over, they all gathered in the reception hall for the cocktail hour while the food and DJ was set up. While everyone was mingling, Cosette pulled Enjolras aside asking him if he would make the first speech following a little bit of dancing. Enjolras reluctantly agreed.

The dinner was set up buffet style with the choices of: chicken or steak, roasted or mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, fruit salad, and then finally an assortment of mini cheesecakes. Champagne or water was in the glasses on the tables or you could go up to the bar and ask for something different.

Enjolras sat at the table with Grantaire, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Joly, Jehan, and his parents. They ate their dinner, discussing how beautiful the wedding was and catching up with each other.

Following the dinner and caterers carrying the buffet away, they left the cake, which Marius and Cosette cut not long after and everyone got a piece. It was another half hour before the DJ welcomed the bride and groom to the dance floor for their first dance as married couple. After the traditional dances, the guests were allowed to join in.

When the DJ switched to a slow dance song, "You Are in Love" by Taylor Swift, Grantaire pulled Enjolras up to the dance floor. They weren't really dancing, just swaying.

As they swayed, Grantaire sang the lyrics of the second verse into Enjolras' ear, _"Morning, his place, burnt toast, Sundays. You keep his shirt, he keeps his word. And for once, you let go. Of your fears and your ghosts. One step, not much, but it said enough. You kiss on sidewalks, you fight then you talk. One night he wakes, strange look on his face. Pauses, then says, "You're my best friend". And you knew what it was, he is in love."_

Enjolras smiled brightly and leaned in to whisper. "I love you."

The song and dance had just reached its end when Cosette came up to Enjolras and whispered in his ear that it was time for his speech. He nodded as he pulled away from Grantaire.

"Speech time."

They walked back to the table. Enjolras grabbed his glass before moving to the makeshift stage, and the DJ cut the music.

"Um, I guess that I'm going to start the toasts. For those of you, who may not know me, I'm Julien Enjolras, the brother of the bride." Enjolras started. "I'm not quite sure what to say because this was sprung on me about two or so hours ago.

“Um…many years ago, a terrible thing happened in our family. We lost a brother and our parents lost a son. Cosette was only 14 at the time. During the time of grief, she met Marius, who was there for her, in a way that I or my parents couldn't be. They spent a lot of time together following that. I remember her coming to me, when I was a sophomore in college saying that she was scared because she didn't want to lose Marius like we lost Mathieu, but I ended up telling her to go for it. I mean, that's what a relationship is." He saw Grantaire, sitting there, listening with a smile on his face. As he looked at him, every memory from their relationship came rushing back to him in flashes.

"It's a risk. It's accepting that there are no guarantees. I mean, who know what the future brings, and going for it, anyway. It's knowing that no matter what anyone says or the looks that they may give you, you know that what you feel and what they feel is real. It's trusting the person you love to be there for you and to be patient with you. It's breaking down the same walls over and over again, even when the person you love is determined to keep you out. It's loving someone with your whole heart and soul and praying that they will be there to catch you when you fall. So," He raised his glass to his sister and Marius and everything in the room followed. "Cosette and Marius, I wish you a life full of happiness, but Marius, just let me remind you that if you do anything to hurt her, I am a cop and I have a gun." Enjolras teased with a smile before saying. "To Marius and Cosette."

The room echoes before they took sips of their champagne. Enjolras got off the stage to make his way to Grantaire.

He leaned down to be at level with Grantaire's ear. "I need to talk to you."

Grantaire looked at him as he stood up. Enjolras grabbed his hand and led him, quickly out of the reception hall.

"Hey, what's wrong? Babe, talk to me." Grantaire said as he followed his boyfriend out.

Enjolras led them to a place that was private before turning to him and saying. "I love you."

Grantaire raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I know. I love you, too. Babe, what's going on?"

Enjolras took Grantaire's hand and laced their fingers. "When we get back to New York, I want you to move in with me. I want you to be the first thing that I see when I wake up. I want you to be the last thing I see when I fall asleep. Like the songs says, I want to have burnt toast on Sundays as I wear your shirt. I want to dance in a snow globe round and round. I want everything in that song and more. I want domestic spats. I want the hot, wild sex that our friends walk in on when it's our turn to host movie night." Grantaire chuckled. "I want you to keep breaking through the walls, so that I can't shut you out when you know I need to talk about something. I want you in every crevice of my life. I just want you, always and forever."

Grantaire smiled at him. "Where did this come from?"

"As I stood on that stage, every moment of our relationship. The good, the bad, the ugly. Everything came rushing back to me, and I realized, not for the first time, that I want to spend every minute of every day with you. You're my partner, in every sense of the word." Enjolras smiled with teary eyes. "You're the love of my life, 'Taire. And one day, I want to be able to call you my husband, but before, we get there, will you move in with me?"

Grantaire, whose eyes had tears in them as well, nodded and laughed. "Yes, I will move in with you. I love you, so much, Julien Enjolras."

"I am so insanely, passionately, irrecoverably, heartbreakingly, truly, deeply in love with you, too, Nicolas Grantaire." Enjolras replied. He leaned forward and pressed his lips, desperately, against Grantaire's.

Grantaire accepted his mouth with no hesitation. Enjolras wrapped his arms around his neck and dug his fingers in his hair. Grantaire wrapped his arms around his waist before lifting him up and pressed him against the wall. Enjolras' legs wrapped around his waist.

Enjolras opened his mouth and Grantaire's tongue slipped inside. Their tongues tasted every inch of the other's mouth, which they had done before, but for some reason, it was different this time. When Grantaire pulled away, he started to kiss down Enjolras' neck. Enjolras moved his head to allow Grantaire access. As Grantaire kissed his neck, Enjolras moaned and closed his eyes, hanging on to Grantaire for dear life.

They needed to move away from the hallway before someone caught them. Grantaire continued to kiss his neck and smiled when he felt Enjolras' arousal against his leg. He pressed his own against Enjolras'. Enjolras moaned and Grantaire brought their mouths back together.

Enjolras pulled away. "Love, as much as I want you. I'd rather not to do it in a hallway where anyone could see us at any moment."

"Right." Grantaire said. He set Enjolras' down on the floor and led him to the elevator. Who cares if they were missed at the wedding reception? This was more important.

Once they were inside the elevator, Grantaire hit the button of their floor, and their found each other's mouth again. They were so wound up in each other that they almost didn't hear the ding of the bell when they got to their floor. They left the elevator and walked toward their room, exchanging kisses. Grantaire pushed Enjolras against the door of their room and attacked his mouth again as he dug in his pocket for the key. He placed the key in the door and they stumbled inside as it opened. Their mouths never leaving each other's.

After they were in the room, Grantaire closed the door with his foot. He and Enjolras slowly made their way toward the bed, removing each other's clothes as they did so. When Enjolras' knees hit the bed, the only clothing that they still had on were their pants. Grantaire pushed Enjolras onto the bed and hovered over Enjolras, his hands in his hair, while Enjolras' hands were resting against his face. They smiled at each other, but neither needed to say anything. Their smiled said it all.

Grantaire brought his lips back down to Enjolras' as his hands caressed the sides of Enjolras' body. Enjolras shivered. Enjolras' hands ran down Grantaire's back and chest before moving toward Grantaire's belt. He undid the belt, but before he pushed them down, he wrapped his arms around his waist again, and his hands slipped under Grantaire's pants to squeeze his ass. Grantaire let out a surprised moan against Enjolras' mouth. Then, Enjolras pushed the pants down as far as they could go, followed by the boxers.

Grantaire pulled away from Enjolras' mouth, who chased his. He pulled Enjolras' pants and boxers off of his body. Grantaire ran his hands over Enjolras' legs, chest, and arms. Enjolras shivered once again. Grantaire leaned down to kiss the beautiful neck and chest of his lover. He planned on inciting the screams and moans that he loved so much out of Enjolras. Grantaire rubbed their hardened cocks together, which only added a hot and static friction between them. They both moaned.

"God, baby, you have ruined me. Ruined me. I love you, so fucking much." Grantaire whispered into his ear. Enjolras brought the mouths back together.

Grantaire moved away from his mouth once again causing Enjolras to whine at the last, but it didn't last long when he saw where Grantaire was moving. He had moved to lay in between Enjolras' legs, and wrapped his mouth around his cock. As his cock was enveloped in Grantaire's warm mouth, Enjolras' hips bucked forward as his eyes slipped shut. Grantaire sucked at the tip causing Enjolras to let out a moan. He slowly took more in and hallowed out his cheeks. Grantaire bobbed his head as he licked and sucked. Enjolras' fingers found Grantaire's dark curls.

"Oh, fuck! Love, you feel so good." Enjolras sighed as his hands pulled on Grantaire's curls.

Grantaire hummed around Enjolras' cock, sending vibrations through Enjolras, who moaned.

As Grantaire continued to suck at his cock, Enjolras felt his stomach start to twist and his release was about to come. "'Taire, please. I'm not going to last."

Grantaire moved his mouth to the tip and flicked his tongue over the slit. He wrapped his hand around the beautiful cock to pump his hand. Enjolras' fingers dug into Grantaire's scalp and he braced his feet on the bed. After a couple more sucks, Enjolras couldn't hold back anymore, and cum entered Grantaire's mouth. Grantaire took it all into his mouth and swallowed. Enjolras was already panting, attempting to catch his breath.

Grantaire pulled off his cock. He made his way up to Enjolras' mouth by licking up his body until he was at Enjolras' mouth and kissed him. Grantaire opened his mouth, letting Enjolras' tongue explore his mouth and taste himself.

When he pulled away, Enjolras' eyes flicked up to Grantaire's and smiled, who smiled back. Enjolras took his hand and laced their fingers together.

Grantaire noticed the scar of where Enjolras had been shot, and pulled his hand out of Enjolras' to touch it. Neither say anything as Grantaire leaned forward to press a kiss to it. After six months, Enjolras knew that now it was just another feature on his body that Grantaire loved with all his heart.

Enjolras pulled Grantaire's mouth back to his. Then, he kissed Grantaire's jaw, he made his way towards his lover's ear. "Fuck me. God, please, fuck me."

Grantaire nodded. "I just need to grab something."

As Grantaire made his way off the bed and toward his duffle bag, Enjolras' hand went down to his cock, where he stroked himself while he waited for Grantaire to return.

After grabbing the lube, Grantaire made his way back to the bed, but froze in his tracks. He stared at his boyfriend, who was lying on the bed, his hair spread out over the pillow making him look like an angel, his body had a thin layer of sweat. His legs were spread, allowing Grantaire a view of his entrance, while Enjolras' stroked his own cock with a smirk on his face. Grantaire's own cock twitched at the sight. He climbed back on bed and in between Enjolras' legs. He squeezed some onto his fingers. Grantaire placed his fingers against Enjolras' hole and pushed inside. Enjolras moaned as pleasure shot through him. Grantaire leaned forward to kiss him.

Grantaire entered another finger alongside the other. He moved the fingers around and hooked them inside of Enjolras, who let out a pleasured scream as his back arched off the bed. Grantaire then added another finger. The moans that Enjolras let out were the most beautiful thing in the world as he moved his fingers around.

"God, baby, I love seeing you so wrecked. You whining and writhing underneath me. You look so beautiful. I'll never be over the fact that I'll be the only one who will ever see you like this." His fingers graced Enjolras' prostate. Another jolt of pleasure ran up Enjolras' spine.

"'Taire, just please fuck me! God, fuck me." Enjolras begged.

Grantaire smiled, wickedly. He massaged his fingers against Enjolras' prostate. Enjolras let out a scream that Grantaire loved so much. Grantaire removed his fingers from inside Enjolras, who sighed at the loss. Grantaire grabbed the lube again and slicked up his cock. He climbed over Enjolras and placed his cock at the entrance.

"Just do it." Enjolras told him. His legs wrapped around Grantaire's waist.

Grantaire pushed in, slowly. Enjolras sighed as his hole was stretched as Grantaire pushed inside. When he was fully sheathed, Grantaire started to thrust slowly.

Even after six months of sex, Enjolras would never tire of the feeling of Grantaire moving inside of him. "God, love, it feels so good! More, please! More!"

Grantaire picked up his pace a little bit more. His cock sliding in and out of Enjolras' heat. God, it was perfect. Enjolras looked up at him and smiled. He moved a curl from Grantaire's sweaty forehead. He pulled him down to kiss him, open mouthed. Grantaire placed a kiss to Enjolras' forehead before pulling away and kissed his neck again. Enjolras wrapped his arms around Grantaire and they ran down his back.

"Oh, love." Enjolras whispered into his neck. Then, a soft moan escaped.

"You're so beautiful, love. So, so beautiful."

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Alright, that's enough of the sappy shit. Fuck me, 'Taire. Hard and fast. Make me scream."

Grantaire changed his pace. He started slamming into Enjolras causing his boyfriend to let out the most beautiful screams. If there was anyone in the hallway or in the next room, there was no secret to what they were doing.

"Yes! Yes! Shit! Fuck me!" Enjolras moaned. His nails making small moons in Grantaire's back as he dug them in.

Grantaire changed his position, so he was sitting on his knees causing Enjolras' hands to fall from his back to the sheets. His hands gripped them tightly.

"Baby, you're so perfect! So perfect! I'm going to make you see stars." Grantaire placed his hands on Enjolras' hips and pulled his lover toward him and pounded into his lover. Pulling all the way out before driving back in hard and deep. His boyfriend start to wiggle as Grantaire's thrusts rammed into Enjolras' prostate over and over and over again.

"More! Fuck!" Enjolras moaned as arched his neck. "'Taire! I'm almost there! I'm going to come."

"Come on, then, baby. Come for me." Grantaire said as he wrapped a hand around Enjolras' cock and pumped his hand in time with his hard and rough thrusts.

"Yes! More! Fuck me!" Enjolras screamed.

Grantaire continued his powerful thrust and stroking, and before long, his hand and chest were covered in Enjolras' cum. He looked up at his lover, whose back had arched and he was slowly falling back to the bed. He continued to pump his hand and thrust gently to help Enjolras ride out his orgasm. Enjolras' sighs were small as Grantaire continued to move until his own release came. Grantaire came with a grunt and cum was released into Enjolras, who whimpered at the feeling of his lover's release inside of him.

When Grantaire was spent, he fell gently on top of Enjolras to catch his breath. He stayed inside of Enjolras. Both men were soaked with sweat. Enjolras ran his fingers through Grantaire's hair. He kissed the top of his head. Grantaire pressed a kiss to his collarbone.

After a while, Grantaire said. "I should get a washcloth and clean up our mess." He pulled out of Enjolras, who protested at the loss.

Grantaire got off of the bed and went into the bathroom to grab a washcloth. He wet it down with warm water. He cleaned himself up, and then went into the room to do the same to Enjolras.

After cleaning up Enjolras, he threw the cloth somewhere in the room as he got back on the bed. Grantaire glanced at Enjolras, and they smiled at each other. They laid on top of the covers. Both of them not wanting to ruin the afterglow.

Enjolras grabbed his lover's hand and played with his fingers. "Why is sex with you so fucking satisfying?"

Grantaire laughed. "I really don't know, babe."

They laid there in silence until Grantaire spoke up. "'Jolras, did you mean it? What you said in the hallway?"

"Every word." Enjolras said. "Why would I lie about that?"

"You wouldn't, I know. I just had to be sure, that's all." Grantaire said. "And just so you know, I plan on calling you my husband, too."

Enjolras leaned over to kiss him. "I'm glad to hear that."

It was only another hour before Enjolras started to urge Grantaire to fuck him again, and Grantaire complied, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the night, fucking Enjolras into oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You Are In Love" is an ExR song, and you can't tell me otherwise.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Nope!

* * *

Enjolras woke up to the sun on his face and the sound of a horn blaring. He turned in the bed, only to see that Grantaire was still sound asleep, but his arms were wrapped around him. Enjolras smiled at his boyfriend, and moved a curl away from his face. He looked at the clock, only to see that there were still a few minutes before their alarm was set to go off. Enjolras crawled back under the covers and waited until Grantaire showed movement.

It wasn't until the alarm went off, that Grantaire woke up. He kissed Enjolras' neck.

"Good morning, baby." Grantaire whispered into his neck.

Enjolras turned to look at him. "Hello, love." They kissed each other good morning.

"God, I can't believe that it's been nine months since we got together." Grantaire said.

"I know, and we've been officially living together for three." Enjolras smiled.

Grantaire kissed Enjolras again, and while their lips were pressed together, he could feel his cock growing interested again, but he knew if he gave in to temptation, he and Enjolras would be late for work.

Enjolras pulled away from him. "You tell your beautiful cock to settle down or we are going to be late for work." He slipped out from underneath Grantaire and out from under the covers. He stood up from and walked around the bedroom naked. Giving his boyfriend a wonderful view of his ass and cock.

"It would be a lot easier if you weren't standing there, taunting me." Grantaire made a point by running his eyes over Enjolras' beautiful, well-toned body.

Enjolras turned to look at Grantaire over his shoulder. "I wish I could say that I was sorry, but I'm really not." And with that he closed the bathroom door.

Grantaire heard the water start running and couldn't get the image of the water dripping down a naked Enjolras out of his mind. He got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom. Grantaire pulled back the shower curtain and stepped inside. His lover was standing under the spray, looking away from him. Grantaire walked forward and wrapped his arms around his waist and started kissing down his neck.

"Less than two minutes to get you in here with me, I think that's a record." Enjolras turned around.

Grantaire smiled as he placed a kiss against Enjolras' lips. "One can just not simply resist the pull of Apollo."

"Seriously? The return of that loathsome nickname?" Enjolras raised an eyebrow to which Grantaire shrugged. "Right, whatever. Just fuck me."

Grantaire fell to his knees and took Enjolras' cock into his mouth. Enjolras' legs found their way onto his shoulders. Grantaire sucked Enjolras' cock.

Enjolras' head fell back against the wall. His fingers dug into Grantaire's curls. "'Taire! Yes!"

Grantaire's tongue licked up Enjolras' cock. His tongue swirled the tip in his mouth and licked across the slit. Every movement of his tongue sent a vibration of pleasure up Enjolras' spine.

"Fuck! Your mouth! Yes!" Enjolras screamed as he released cum into Grantaire's mouth.

Grantaire did his best to keep it all in his mouth, but some dribbled down his chin. He set Enjolras down and wiped away cum from his chin. He pressed his lips against Enjolras'. He opened his mouth to allow his lover's tongue to slip inside. Grantaire knew how much Enjolras loved the taste of himself on his tongue.

As the water sprayed down on them, Enjolras' hand wrapped around Grantaire's cock. Grantaire moaned as his boyfriend's hand moved over his cock. Enjolras' hand stroked him at a perfect pace. His thumb rubbed over Grantaire's slit causing his hips to jilt forward.

Enjolras kissed down Grantaire's neck and left a love bite on his neck. He had sported a very noticeable one on his neck last week. Now, it was Grantaire's turn. Grantaire came with a moan and cum oozed over their chests.

"We need to get cleaned up." Enjolras said. He washed his hand under the spray.

Enjolras handed Grantaire the shampoo bottle. Grantaire washed his hair, and then his body. Enjolras, then did the same for Grantaire.

Once they were done with the shower, they got dressed. Grantaire made breakfast while Enjolras got the coffee ready. As Grantaire made Enjolras his omelet, his boyfriend came up to him and kissed his cheek.

"I love you." Enjolras said. He placed a mug coffee on the counter next to him before going to check his phone.

They ate in silence, and once they were done, they shared the duty of doing the dishes. When it was time to go, Grantaire poured coffee into their travel mugs. They grabbed their keys, badges, and guns before leaving the apartment.

***

It was a beautiful June day. The temperature was perfect at 75 degrees. The sun was shining and there was a soft breeze coming off of the Hudson Bay. Grantaire took Enjolras' hand after they got out of his car, and walked the couple blocks to the precinct. As they walked down the sidewalk, they bumped into a person they hadn't seen in months.

Alex.

Enjolras tried to let go of Grantaire's hand, but his boyfriend stopped him.

"Hello, Alex." Grantaire squeezed Enjolras' hand.

"Hi." Alex said. "How have you been?" He avoided looking in the direction of Enjolras or their hands.

"I'm great. Wonderful actually." Grantaire told him. He saw Enjolras take a sip of his coffee. "How are you?"

"I'm alright." Alex said.

Wanting to get away from the awkward situation as quickly as possible, Grantaire came up with a lie. "While we should get going."

"Yeah, me too. I'll see you later." Alex said, walking away from him.

Grantaire turned to his boyfriend, who looked far away. "Hey, I know that look. I love you, 'Jolras. So much." He cupped Enjolras' face and smiled at him.

Enjolras returned the smiled and leaned forward to kiss him. "I love you, too."

They continued walking toward the prescient. After getting off the elevator to the homicide level, they walked into the bullpen.

"And the lovebirds arrive." Courfeyrac said. "Did you have some hot and steamy sex this morning?"

"The fact that you are so interested in our sex life creeps me out. It makes me think you aren't getting enough from 'Ferre. So, you're trying to live vicariously through ours." Grantaire told Courfeyrac as he sat down at his desk.

Courfeyrac looked mildly offended as he walked away to go into the break room for coffee.

Enjolras laughed as he took a sip of his own coffee.

***

Later that night, Enjolras sat on the couch with a glass of wine. Grantaire was in the kitchen making dinner.

"I'll never get over the fact that you can't cook." Grantaire said as he chopped up some vegetables.

Enjolras shrugged. "My mother loved to cook, so she never allowed us in her kitchen. Plus, 'Ferre did most of the cooking when he lived here. If he didn't, we ordered in." Enjolras smiled. "But I also know that you love cooking for me."

Grantaire threw the vegetables into the pan. He making a stir fry. "You're right, I do."

"Cosette called me while you were shopping for groceries. She told me that she was pregnant. 14 weeks." Enjolras took a sip of wine.

Grantaire smiled. "That's amazing. You're going to be an uncle." He started to stir the stir fry.

" _We_ are going to be uncles." Enjolras corrected.

Grantaire laughed. "Right. We." He looked up and noticed the look of sadness on his love's face. "What's going on?"

"I just wish that Mathieu was here to share in the joy of our little sister being pregnant." Enjolras said, standing up from the couch and walking around the island.

"I know, baby, but he's watching over you and Cosette, and I'm sure he has a smile on his face." Grantaire assured.

"Thanks." Enjolras said. "Okay, enough talk about that." He wrapped his arms around Grantaire's waist and kissed his neck. "I'm sorry about my reaction when we saw Alex today. I just…the man grates on my last nerve, and I…"

Grantaire turned around in his arms and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I know, but you don't have to worry. I'm going to be your husband someday, remember. I'm yours, baby. Always and forever. Nothing and no one is ever going to change that." He kissed Enjolras, deeply.

Enjolras pulled away. "Okay, you have a dinner to finish making."

"Yes, love." Grantaire turned back to his stir fry.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who kept kudos, bookmarked, commented, and subscribed to this fic! I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Disclaimer: Still don't own anything, but the plot and spelling/grammar mistakes.

About a week later, Grantaire woke up in the middle of the night with his boyfriend missing from their bed. He got out of the bed to go and search for him. Grantaire found him sitting in the living room, just watching a movie.

Grantaire sat down next to him. "Love, it's past two in the morning."

Enjolras looked at the clock. "Huh. So, it is. I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't wake me. It was you not being in our bed that woke me up. 'Jolras, what's wrong?" Grantaire asked as he ran his fingers through his hair.

Enjolras shook his head. "Nothing."

Grantaire sighed. "Don't shut me out. What's bothering you?"

"Fine." Enjolras stood up to go to the kitchen. He grabbed a letter from the pile of mail and walked back to Grantaire. He sat down and handed it to him. "Read it."

Grantaire quickly skimmed the letter, but looked at him in confusion. "What does this mean?"

"It means my grandparents are taking me out of the will simply for the fact that I'm sleeping with a man."

"How long have you known about this?" Grantaire held up the letter.

"Since we got home from work. I read the letter while you were making dinner." Enjolras wrapped his arms around his knees.

"This is why you've been so quiet since then. Babe, why didn't you tell me about this?" Grantaire asked.

Enjolras shrugged. "Maybe because with this there's nothing you can do. My grandparents were never fine with my being gay, but they ignored it up until the wedding when they saw how happy I was with you."

"But the wedding was three months ago. Why did it take this long to cut you out of it?" Grantaire asked, setting the letter down on the coffee table.

"Because it takes a while to make changes to a will, that's why."

"Why didn't your parents do something?"

"They have no say in my grandparents' will. I'm sure that they don't know that I was cut out of it. I'm still in my parent's will I know that, but I won't be getting my inheritance from my grandparents like I was supposed to be." Enjolras told him. "But it's whatever, I'm not going to be upset about it any longer. If they can't accept me the way I am, then that's their fault, not mine."

"That's right. Come on, babe. Let's go back to bed." Grantaire said, holding his hand out. Enjolras took it and they went back to their bedroom.

Enjolras crawled under the covers. He laid down and watched as Grantaire crawled back under them. He pulled Enjolras to him, and Enjolras rested his head on his boyfriend's chest.

***

The next morning, Grantaire brought Enjolras breakfast in bed.

"'Taire…you didn't have to do this." Enjolras said as he sat up in bed.

Grantaire shrugged. "I know, but I wanted to."

Enjolras pressed a kiss to his lips. "Thank you." He started eating. Grantaire grabbed his laptop while he waited for Enjolras to finish eating.

"Jehan called. He wanted to know it we're available for dinner tonight." Grantaire said.

Enjolras nodded. "As long as we don't get a case, it sounds like a plan."

***

Later that night, Enjolras and Grantaire walked to Jehan and Joly's apartment. Grantaire's former one. Grantaire had a bottle of wine in his hand. Enjolras knocked on the door, and Jehan was the one who opened it up.

"Hello, my darlings." He kissed them both on the cheek as they walked in.

Joly was in the kitchen, finishing up dinner.

"Hello, friends." Joly waved.

"We also invited 'Ferre and Courf, but they denied." Jehan told the,

Enjolras and Grantaire nodded. They sat down at the table as Jehan and Joly brought out the food. It was spaghetti and meatballs with garlic toast.

"So, guys, how are you doing?" Jehan asked as he put noodles on his plate.

"Great. Very glad that it's Friday today, although crime never stops in this city." Grantaire said as Enjolras nodded in agreement.

"So, Enj, I heard from Courf that Cosette is expecting a baby." Joly said.

Enjolras nodded. "Yes, she is. 15 weeks exactly. They don't know the sex, yet, but it's already got Marius wrapped around its finger."

Both of their friends squealed at the announcement. The four friend spent the evening talking and laughing. It ended up being a very good night.

***

Enjolras and Grantaire got back to their own apartment.

"Did you have a good time?" Grantaire asked. "You were really quiet."

"I'm fine. It's just…it was a long day, I guess." Enjolras said as he removed his shoes.

Grantaire came up to him and kissed him on the cheek.

"I think I'm going to go take a shower." Enjolras told him as he pulled out of Grantaire's arms.

Grantaire went to sit down on the couch and turned on the TV.

Twenty minutes later, Enjolras came out in his sweatpants and one of Grantaire's t-shirts. He sat down next to him and pulled the blanket that was hanging off the back of the couch over his lap. He laid his head down on Grantaire's shoulder.

"Are you sure everything's alright?" Grantaire asked as he laced his fingers with Enjolras'. He felt Enjolras nod against his shoulder. "Somehow I don't believe you."

Enjolras pulled away from him and grabbed the remote to turn the volume down.

"Okay, so this morning, I saw something in one of your drawers. I wasn't looking for it, but before we left for work, you were doing the dishes and I was getting dressed, I decided to put some laundry away and I found it. It was a black velvet box." Enjolras explained. "I didn't look at it, but the moment I saw it, I started panicking because when you see a box like that, you immediately think ring."

Grantaire sighed and closed his eyes. "I wanted it to be a surprise." He said getting up from the couch and walking into their room. He grabbed the box. Grantaire came back out. "It was meant to be your present for our one year anniversary. I know that that's still a couple of months away, but I just needed to get it early. Anyway, I know what you're thinking. You think it's an engagement ring, but it's not. Despite telling me at the wedding, you want to one day call me your husband, I know that you're nowhere near ready for that to actually happen, yet. And quite frankly, I'm enjoying what we have now." He sat down on the coffee table in front of Enjolras. Grantaire opened the box to reveal a ring. "It's a promise ring. It's meant to symbolize that we are 110% committed and devoted to each other." He pulled the ring out to show Enjolras. "You don't necessarily have to wear it on your finger. There's a chain inside of the box, so you can wear it around your neck. I went back and forth on getting it for weeks, and then decided to go for it."

Enjolras took the ring in his hand and looked at it. It was a plain silver ring. There were engraved markings on the outside, but he couldn't pinpoint what they were. "What are the markings?"

"It's the sound waves of me saying, "I love you." Grantaire said.

Enjolras smiled and continued looking at it. He noticed that on the inside it was engraved with: _I promise that I will be the one to catch you_.

"It's up to you on whether or not, you want to accept it." Grantaire told him.

Enjolras took the box from him to search for the chain. He grabbed the chain and slipped the ring on it. Enjolras held it out to Grantaire. "Will you put it on me?"

Grantaire nodded. Enjolras turned around as he stood up. Grantaire placed the chain around his neck and clasped the chain.

"There you go." Grantaire said.

Enjolras looked down and the ring fell right at his sternum. He turned back around to face Grantaire. "I love it, and I love you." He cupped Grantaire's face before leaning in to kiss him.

Grantaire kissed him back with fervor. He wrapped his arms around his waist. They slowly made their way to their bedroom. Their lips never leaving the others as Grantaire closed the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone again!
> 
> Kudos and comments are welcome. In fact, they are encouraged! :) No flames, though, please!
> 
> Blog: thechiefandhiscynic.blogspot.com.  
> Tumblr: ilovemybarricadebabies


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